What to Do With Leftover Leeks: Leek Confit

Deceptively complex

The problem with leeks is their size.

They’re always either too small (looking at you, supermarkets) or too large (looking at you, metre-long monstrosities from the farmer’s market).

All of which means that every time I buy leeks, I always have little nubbins of them leftover that used to languish in the bottom of my fridge until they saw their inevitable final resting place in the trash.

Not good for me, not good for the leeks.

Then some years ago, I discovered a recipe called Leeks Confit.

Honestly, it’s not really confit. Confit is the French method of slow cooking and storing food in fat, whereas this sees a) very little fat and b) is for eating now, not later.

But the name stuck in my household and this dish has been the saviour of those lengths of leftover leek.

The dish is extremely Capsule Pantry friendly in the sense that it only uses a few storecupboard ingredients and you can adapt it however you like. The basic premise is to smother the leeks in olive oil and roast them until semi-cooked and browned. Semi-submerge them in stock and cook them low and slow until they’re falling apart.

And that’s lunch.

• Leeks, cleaned and cut into lengths that snugly fit any square or rectangular dish you have. If they’re extremely thick, cut them in half down the middle.

• Good quality stock. I like to use homemade brown chicken stock but I’ve made it plenty of times with quality stock cubes.

• Olive oil - enough to coat the leeks in a thin layer

• Flaky sea salt

• Black pepper

Heat your oven to 200C/390F.

Rub the leeks in olive oil and fit them into your oven dish. Season with salt and black pepper.

Roast for 20 minutes until the tops of the leeks are golden.

Turn the oven temperature down to 160C/320F. Pour over enough stock so the leeks are half submerged. and cook for a further 40 minutes to an hour. Top up the stock if it runs dry.

These leeks make a lunch on their own, smeared onto bread, and topped with feta.

Add extras to the dish like shredded cooked chicken, garlic, or greens like spinach.

Add dried or fresh herbs. Rosemary, oregano or thyme would work especially well.

Make it creamy — remove the leeks at the end of cooking and stir in a little heavy cream or creme fraiche into the stock. Pour over the leeks at the table.