Leeks: The Results

First off, let me say: God Bless Trader Joe's. They sell a package of cleaned & trimmed leeks (you get two), which made this ingredient a lot less intimidating and easy to work with. Now if I ever want to buy them at the store, I know approximately how much to clean & discard. So, kudos to you, Joe's. For that and approximately 50 million other reasons, I love you.

As I mentioned a couple days ago, I made a relatively basic beef & vegetable soup. I did end up adding orzo - incidentally, another ingredient I have never actually cooked with. If I get behind a week, I'm totally counting this. Leeks really have a mild, oniony flavor, so they didn't overwhelm or stick out. That also means you kind of don't know they're there, but that's ok. I know they contributed to the undertones of the dish - or, to use my favorite phrase from Food Network's 'Chopped' - the flavor profile of the soup. I happen to be eating leftovers for lunch as we speak. Mmmm, Mmmm, good.

That soup left me with one more leek in the fridge, which I used last night in an Asian Stirfry. A stirfry that I would make every meal of every day, quite frankly. It came out so yummy! I used sesame oil to sautee onion, leek, shredded cabbage, mushroom, red pepper, and garlic. For spices, I added curry, coriander, ginger, and a pinch of Chinese Five Spice, plus some soy sauce and terriyaki sauce from a local restaurant (the best ever). Separately, I cooked up two package of ramen - yes, ramen - putting the flavor packets aside. I removed the veggies from the pan, and cooked the noodles in more sesame oil to get them a bit crispy, and added the flavor packets there. You might notice this isn't the healthiest stir fry, undoubtedly why it was so dang delicious. I added the veggies back in, a bit more soy & terriyaki, and voila! Oh, I also diced some cooked chicken from a rotisserie chicken breast I bought at the grocery store.

I feel pretty successful this week. When I told my husband the first ingredient of 2011, he said "Oh, you were serious about that?" Yes! Yes I was. Here's hoping I stick with it as long as I can. Next week? Lentils. Something I've never had except in a can of Progresso soup, which totally does not count.