OUR DEAR VEGETABLES
the leek

Alas! vegetables are still "cherons... The pound and the dollar have fallen, but our beautiful vegetables, these vegetables so exquisitely sung by Madame de Clermont-Tonnerre, in her almanac of Good Things from France, are still leaving for foreign countries, and we are left with only the most puny products from our vegetable gardens. And at what price do we still have to pay them!

Anyway, let's talk about our vegetables. Let us discuss their merits and, to respond to the request of some readers, wishing to eat “vegetable flesh,” let us give some recipes to accommodate them.

First of all, here is a very luxurious dish: leeks au gratin.

Carefully peel ten large leeks. Wash them. Keep carefully all the green parts that you will use, on the other hand, to prepare this admirable thing which is a “leek and potato soup”, soups which the master Jules Desbois often enjoys.

Place the well-washed and trimmed leek whites in a buttered flat pan. Season with salt and a touch of pepper. Sprinkle with menus. pieces of butter. Add three or four spoonfuls of water and cook covered.

Drain the leek whites and place them in a buttered gratin dish sprinkled with grated cheese. Sprinkle them with their cooking (which should be very reduced), sprinkle with grated cheese and brown in the oven over low heat.

Leek whites can be prepared in a variety of ways. Here are some Dutch-style formulas (or better said, “Isigny” sauce). Bundle and tie the leek whites (the green parts are always reserved for making a soup or for garnishing the stew). Cook them in salted water (like asparagus) or in the broth from the pot. Drain them, place them on a wire rack. Serve with Isigny butter sauce, aka “Hollandaise” to refer to it by its old name.

In “fritot”. Dip boiled leeks in batter, drained and marinated for an hour with oil, lemon juice and parsley. Fry them until very hot. Serve on a napkin with tomato sauce.

Indian style: Arrange the stewed leeks on a round dish. Garnish with Indian cooked rice. Top with curry sauce. Add four spoonfuls of béchamel sauce to the cooking leeks. Season with curry powder. Dilute with a little cream (or failing that, milk or broth). Mix well over the heat, with a whisk. At the last moment, add butter and strain.

Finally, let us give a recipe dedicated to the spiritual father of Bouif:

“The Bouif omelette”.
Beat six eggs and add two spoonfuls of chopped chives. Season. Make the flat omelette and place it on a round dish. Garnish it with leeks steamed in butter and arrange in a rosette. Between each leek put half a tomato cooked in a pan with butter.-

PROSPER MONTAGNE.