Leeks!

I love leeks, but many of the recipes I know involve using them in a torte.  Which is very tasty, but something I have regrettably had to give up.  So when leeks showed up in my basket, I needed to figure out some new ways to incorporate them into my meals.  I wasn't really in the mood to do a leek soup (I like leek and potato soup, or leek and asparagus is really good too!), although I did use the greens in a vegetable stock.  So I found some recipes for potato and leek pancakes, and then I imagined a neat way to incorporate them into the polenta I had sitting in my fridge. 

Okay, so there are a million recipes for potato pancakes out there, and quite a few with potatoes and leeks.  (If you couldn't tell, potato and leeks go together like cookies and milk :) )  My challenge was to do this without eggs to bind them together.  I didn't really have any egg replacement things on hand that I thought would meld well, so my pancakes did NOT stay together...but it still tasted delish!  For a more suitable pancake add flour and/or egg to bind the potatoes and leek together. 

To start, slice your leeks in half the long way, then rinse very well.  Chop off the very green area, and toss out, or toss in a pot to make a stock with.  The part you want is the white and light green areaa.  I usually incorporate a bit of green too.  For looks, and to stretch out how far the leeks will go.  Then, slice into thin half coin slivers...I usually rinse again in a strainer.   Sautee in either oil or butter for about 5 min, or until tender.  If I have multiple leek dishes to make, I always prepare all of the leeks at once, then divide.  It's just easier.

Next is the really fun part.  NOT! Peel and rinse your potato, and shred into a bowl lined with a clean dishcloth.  You could shred the potatoes into some cold water to prevent them from turning brown.  Feel the burn!  I guess this step will be easier for those of you who just pull out a food processor with a shredder attachment.  You want to have about a 1:1 ratio of potato and leeks.  Once you have shredded enough potato, use the dishcloth to squeeze out as much water as you can. 

Then, add potato, leeks, and about a good cup of grated parmesan cheese to a bowl.  Add about a table spoon of olive oil to coat, and incorporate.  You will probably want to add some salt and pepper.  Thyme and rosemary work well too.  Here is where you would add flour or egg to make a real pancake.  :)

Once ingredients are mixed, form into pancake - like shapes, and put into a hot pan with a little oil or butter.  They should only take a couple of minutes per side.  I did about 5 min per side, and got them nice and brown.  But they kinda fell apart when I flipped them.  It was okay, I topped my potato leek mound with ketchup and sour cream....and then ate the entire batch!

This polenta dish is a way for me to feel indulgent, since the types of breakfast foods I can eat are diminishing by the day!  This idea came to me in a round about way, and when I make it again, it will be really easy to simplify. 

One Sunday, I decided to try out "The Pioneer Woman's" Goat cheese and polenta with braised short ribs.  (http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/11/creamy-polenta-with-goat-cheese-heaven-on-a-plate-part-2/).  It was pretty good, but I would have liked the polenta a bit thicker.  She used at least a 4:1 ratio of liquid to polenta.  She also said that it would serve 4 people, and we had a TON of leftovers! Which is saying a lot, since both Jason and I eat quite large servings. 

Since we had a lot of leftovers, and I wasn't totally crazy about the goat cheese flavor in the polenta, I decided to try to "fix" it.  Firstly I wanted to thicken up the recipe a little, and secondly, I wanted to do more than just use it as a relatively boring side dish.  I started looking up recipes, and found some fabulous looking recipes...but none of them were in English! I could tell from what I saw that polenta had a LOT more potential than I gave it credit for.  Baking or frying it could do things that would make it out of this world! So I whipped up another batch of polenta, using a 3:1 water to corn meal ratio.  Then I took the old polenta out of the fridge....and it was solid! Kind of like a jello! Hmm, this could be interesting.

I managed to incorporate the old polenta into the new polenta, then I put it in a glass baking dish and put it in the fridge to cool. 

When the polenta was solid enough to work with, I took it out of the fridge and turned it upside down onto a plate.

 I carefully, but not carefully enough! cut through the middle of the polenta mass, so that I had a top and a bottom.

 I laid the "bottom" back into the baking dish, then I spread the leek, potato, and cheese mixture that I had saved onto that.  It wasn't "enough", so I sauteed some grape tomatoes and spinach in oil, and once the spinach was wilted, I added that over the leeks, then covered that with freshly grated parmesan cheese.  Then I carefully flipped the polenta "top" back into the baking dish, and grated more cheese onto top for good measure.

 Then I baked it all together for about 20 minutes. Yum!

To simplify this entire process, you could sautee your "filling" ingredients while the polenta cooks, then mix them right into the polenta while it's still in the pot.  Then transfer the entire thing into a baking pan and bake for a few minutes.  Much easier, but not as cool looking :)

INGREDIENTS:

Pancakes:
1 medium leek
1 medium potato (or several small, you need a 1:1 ratio of potato to leek)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper to taste,
oil/butter for cooking

 Polenta:
2 cups corn meal
7 cups water (plus a little extra in case it gets too thick)
1 medium leek
1 medium potato (or several small, you want a 1:1 ratio of potato to leek)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
3 oz spinach
1 cup of grape tomatoes
thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper to taste

Note: To make polenta, bring water to a boil, then add corn meal in a steady stream while mixing constantly.  Once cornmeal is in water, turn down to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes while stirring constantly. 

Also, I usually don't add salt to my recipes, since I will just use it to season at the end if needed.  You will probably need salt with these recipes! It really makes an impact, particularly with the corn meal :)