How to Cut Leeks

Cooking has always been a passion with me as far as I can remember. Even as a little girl I used to just stand in the kitchen and watch my mother cook delicious, mouth-watering dishes. In fact, one of the things that I learned from her was to keep some things handy, so that cooking can be enjoyable, easy and fast. She told me to keep vegetables such as onions, tomatoes and leeks, which are multi purpose and can be used in lots of dishes, cleaned, chopped and stored neatly, the previous night so that cooking can be easy the next evening when one comes from work. I do the same now and keep these vegetables, especially leeks, well cleaned and chopped the previous night for the next day. Leeks are a favorite with my family as they all, especially my husband, simply loves leek soup. And I have found a good and healthy replacement for onions while cooking vegetables or some other dish in leeks. However, to cut and clean leeks in a proper way, needs some practice. Here are some useful tips, followed by my favorite leek soup recipe.

Tips on How to Cut and Clean Leeks

Step 1
In order to cut up leeks, you will need a chef's knife. Start with removing the leaves which have lost their freshness, if any. Then move on to the green colored tough part, at the top, and cut it out too.

Step 2
The next thing that you should do is to cut the rootlets at the base of the leeks. Remember, not to cut the root completely as it is needed to hold the layers of the leek together.

Step 3
Now make lengthwise cuts on both the sides of the leek, without cutting the root. The cuts should be made in such a way that the layers of the leek open up.

Step 4
To wash and cut leeks properly, start by placing the leek, below a water tap. The running water will easily remove, all the dirt that might be there inside the layers of the leek.

Step 5
Once the leek is clean, get rid of the excess water from its layers, with the help of a clean kitchen cloth or a paper towel. Later you can cut, chop or slice the leek, according to your preference.

Leek Soup Recipe

The first thing that you should do, while cooking leek soup, is to cut and wash the leaks properly. For cutting leeks for soup, follow the above mentioned procedure and after that chop the leeks into about half inches pieces. For the soup to taste good, remember to chop only the white and the green parts, and keep the rest for some other use.

Ingredients

Four chopped leeks, two tablespoons of melted butter, two cups of water, two large potatoes(chopped), three cups of chicken broth, two teaspoons of freshly chopped thyme, tomato sauce, salt to taste.

Method

• Heat a pan and put the melted butter in it.
• Add the chopped leeks to the pan, along with salt. Cover the pan and keep it on low for about ten minutes.
• After the leeks have got cooked properly, add the chicken broth, chopped potatoes and water to the pan. Cook on low for about twenty minutes.
• When the soup is cooked, add thyme, sauce and pepper to it. A delicious leek potato soup is now ready to be served.

One last tip before I sign off - when buying leeks, choose the ones which have firm and bright green leaves. Make sure that the white bulb is without any spots. Choose small leeks, as in comparison to the bigger ones, they are much softer and tender.