Creamy Leeks and Tarragon on Toast

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Book Description

The Cook and the Gardener is Amanda Hesser's first book. From the opening lines of its introduction, her literary gifts are as evident as her passion for good food. Since this work combines recipes with her essays about Monsieur Milbert (the gardener at the Chateau du Fey in Burgundy, where Hesser worked as the cook), readers get to enjoy both of her talents. Hesser worked hard to get M. Milbert to talk with her. She shares the careful, deliberate way she wooed him

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The Cook and the Gardener : A Year of Recipes and Writings for the French Countryside

Authors: Amanda Hesser

Date:

ISBN: 0393046680

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Hardcover

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Creamy Leeks and Tarragon on Toast
Recipe from: The Cook and the Gardener
by Amanda Hesser
Cookbook Heaven at Recipelink.com

The leeks of last season still sit in the ground, thick, and sweetened from age and frost, not from the sun's rays. The starch in leeks converts to sugar as it gets old. As the days get warmer in the spring, the leeks begin to harden, bracing themselves for their final bolt toward the sky, when they will produce a pretty topiary ball of flowers, which ultimately turns to seed. It looks like a great overgrown puffball, reaching a final height of five feet or more.

Here I used the sweet old leeks in a way that salvages what flavor they have left. (If the core of the leek has hardened, the leeks are too old to use.) The leeks are bound with cream and soft goat's milk cheese, then scented with the anise-flavor of tarragon and mounded on toast rubbed with garlic. Perfect for an appetizer or light lunch paired with a salad or soup.

Serves 4

2 medium leeks, trimmed, cut in half lengthwise and washed
2 tablespoons butter
Coarse or kosher salt
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup soft goat's milk cheese (usually sold as logs in
vacuum-packed plastic), with rind (if there is one)
removed, and broken into small pea-size pieces
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves (about 6 sprigs)
1-1/2 tablespoons chopped tarragon leaves (about 4-5 branches)
Freshly ground black pepper
4 slices crusty bread, toasted in the oven
1 clove garlic

Slice the leeks crosswise to make 1/4-inch half-moons. Melt the butter in a large saute pan. Add the leek and cook over low heat so it softens but does not color. Once the leek is meltingly soft (8 to 10 minutes), turn up the heat to high to cook off excess liquid, 1 to 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and pour in the cream. Reduce to thicken, about 1 minute. Add the goat's milk cheese and stir until it is melted and the mixture is well bound. Add the parsley and tarragon and season to taste with pepper. Remove from the heat and set aside but keep warm.
Rub the slices of bread with the garlic clove. Mound the leeks on the toast and serve.

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