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Relaxed Farming Food: Leek
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| Leeks are lovely vegetables with a hint of the taste of onions.
We transplant the young seedlings into toilet roll inners
pushed into the polytunnel bed, making sure we thoroughly water them in
- in hot weather we may need to water them daily for three to four days. The leeks then grow to fill the cardboard tube, leaving us with nice clean plants to pick later in the year. When the winter nights are drawing in and it is getting chilly we adore leek and potato soup - pop a few washed and cubed potatoes plus a couple of chopped leeks into a saucepan with enough water to cover them. Add
a chopped onion, carrot and any other vegetables (we often have butternut squash and pumpkin available at this time) that are available and simmer for a couple of hours, stirring every ten minutes or so. Ladle into dishes, add chopped coriander and black pepper and serve with fresh crusty bread.
Watering the leek seedlings in - notice the toilet roll cardboard inners.
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An ex-colleague of David's once described leeks as 'squeaky vegetables' - a reference to the noise/feeling they may make if not cooked properly! We have ignored his comment and make sure we have enough leeks to last us through the winter. We only pull the leeks when we need them - plants like the one in the photo below last a long time in the polytunnel bed, as long as they are not over-watered. Leeks are usually ready to eat from October through to March.
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