Leeks are my new favorite vegetable.

Not much new to post about right now. Jack is finally over his never ending cold and now we are getting ready for our 2 week vacation in California! I can't wait to get away from the cold weather for a while.

In the meantime, I thought I'd post about one of the best discoveries I've made in Switzerland. The leek. I know these must have existed back in the states, but I had never seen one or cooked one. Right now, leeks are the major vegetable available and I have discovered so many ways to eat leeks: in soup, in quiche, in casseroles, etc. My all time favorite leek recipe is chopped leeks in cream, then wrapped in ham, topped with cheese sauce and baked. Then you eat them with knopfli which is a sort of potato pasta. I don't think it is possible to recreate this dish in the states, so I am going to post the recipe for my 2nd favorite leek dish:

Pie Au Jambon Et Au Poireau (Ham and leek pie)

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon butter
1 onion, finely chopped
800 g of potatoes chopped approx. 5 mm thick
600 g leeks, cut 1 cm thick
1 tsp salt
3.3 oz vegetable stock
150 g ham, cut into strips
180 g Creme Fraiche ... (not sure if you can find this, but I think you can substitute sour cream with herbs)
1 bunch parsley, chopped
1 1/2 tsp salt
Pepper
1 egg, beaten
1 Pie crust

Directions:
Melt the butter in a large saucepan and cook the onion. Add the potatoes, leeks, salt and broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer covered for approx. 15 minutes. Put in a bowl and let cool. Mix in the ham, cream fraiche, parsley, salt and pepper. Pour everything into the pie crust. Cut leftover edges off crust and crisscross on top of the pie (like you do with apple pie). Bake for 10 minutes in the lower half of 240 C (464 degree F) oven, reduce temperature to 200 C (428 degree F)  and cook for 25 minutes. Serve with salad.

*You can replace ham and parsely with fillet salmon and dill

Enjoy!