Allium porrum L.
Garden Leek "Columbus" (Zwitserse Reuzen) - for summer harvest.
The leek was once bred from a wild onion growing in the Mediterranean. It looks like a giant green onion, but it has a richer taste and aroma.
There are winter leeks (with short and thick stems) and summer leeks (with long and thin ones).
However, in both cases, only the lower (white and tender) part is eaten: in winter leek it is boiled or stewed (it is too coarse when raw),
and in summer it can be cut into thin half rings and added to salad.
Like onions and garlic, leeks were actively grown during the time of the Egyptian pharaohs, and a little later the ancient Hellenes and Romans ate it with pleasure...
There is reliable evidence that in the early Middle Ages he brought no less joy to the British (then the mention of him in English sources almost disappears).
Historians believe that the leek simply fell out of fashion between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries...
Unlike fastidious aristocrats (whose fickleness in tastes and affections hardly surprises anyone), commoners happily continued and continue to eat it...
Leek is unpretentious, grows in any climatic conditions and is quite nutritious, forming the basis of a quite decent dinner for a poor family:
it is not for nothing that it was called "Asparagus for the poor" (characterizing more human snobbery than the taste of the leek itself).
Leek is much more tender than ordinary onions or shallots, so it is most often used in those dishes where a delicate onion flavor and aroma is needed.
Most recipes recommend using only the white part of the leek stem (this doesn't mean throwing out the coarser green leaves).
Some cookbooks recommend using both white and green leaves for soups.
In this case, green leaves should be cut very thinly and added immediately, or stewed in a small amount of water.
Leek is added to soups, salads, it is stuffed.
Leek goes well with all types of meat, suitable for fish. From it you can prepare the filling for vegetable and mushroom pies and pies.
Leek is put in soups and vegetable dishes, served as a side dish for meat and poultry. It is best to blanch it in salted boiling water for about 10 minutes.
If you cut the stem lengthwise, you get neat leaves in which you can wrap and then bake any minced meat - from cheese to meat.
All varieties of leek have a characteristic and easily recognizable delicate and delicate taste.
Leek is great in pies, meat, vegetable and other casseroles, stewed in cream and browned in oil in combination with other vegetables
(both as an independent dish and as a side dish).
Leek is so excellent in soups and broths that it has rightfully earned its title: "The King of Onion Soups".