Leeks and potato soup

 Leeks!!

I have never cook leeks before. I don't think I have ever eaten leeks before. Leeks and potato have a rhyme to it like they should go together like cookie and milk or chicken and rice.

When you think of leek, think of giant spring onion/scallion. I think they belong to the same family. I followed Alton Brown's recipe loosely and bought some leeks at the grocery store. I have no idea how to cook it so I watched a couple youtube videos for instructions.

Ingredients

4 large potatos
8 skinless chicken drumsticks (you can use chicken stock too instead of making your own stock)
4 large leeks
1 large onion

Fragrance

1 piece of dried bay leaf
A sprinkle of dried basil
A sprinkle of dried rosemary
A sprinkle of dried thyme
Chicken bouillon (optional)
Salt and Pepper.

Instructions

1. Boil a medium pot of water.
2. Cook the chicken drumsticks for about 10 minutes.
3. Add the "Fragrance" ingredients to the soup.
4. At the same time, chop the potato into small pieces and add to the soup.

While the soup is cooking, start preparing and cooking the leeks.

5. Cut the roots and the leafy parts of the of leeks. You want the white-ish part.
6. Cut the leeks down the middle to slice it half.
7. Wash the leeks very carefully to remove all the dirt, especially near the root end.
8. Chop the leeks into small pieces.
9. Brown the onions in a pan with oil.
10. Add the leeks in to the pan and saute it in high heat for about 1-2 minutes. (the leeks are still hard at this point, but that's okay, further cooking in the chicken soup with break it down).
6. Transfer the leeks into the chicken soup pot.
7. Cook everything for 40 minutes in medium heat.
8. Remove the chicken thighs if you are using it.
9. Add 1/2 cup of heavy cream
10. Add 1 tablespoon of butter
11. Season with salt and pepper.
12. Use a handheld blender to blend everything in the soup until it becomes smooth. (Becareful of splashes when doing this. I advice doing it in the sink)

The soup is done!! I can't distinguish the taste of leek from the soup. I figured it is infused and blended in with everything else. I think the essence of the soup is the humble potato. There are many other soup combinations that you can try such as cauliflower potato or asparagus potato






I thought it will be a good idea to sprinkle some chopped spring onion since spring onion and leeks are families and families should embrace each other, right?  I also sprinkle some paprika for no reason but for color. Well, every family has something spicy, just like paprika.

Homemade oven fries (follow up)

Here are some information after some research. Again, should have done this before attempting any new dish

1) The oven needs to be >400F. I set it at 350F in my first try.
2) It takes about 15 minutes for a gas oven to reach that temperature.
3) Minimum cooking time is 30 minutes

I will also tweak my preparation of the potato

1) Cut it into wedges, not thin slices
2) Toss the wedges in oil and salt, not with brush
3) Lay the wedges skin side down so that they "stand" up like water melon wedges
4) Use a baking sheet, not a cake pan. Cooking sheet has more open space to allow even heat transfer while a cake pan has four sides that only allow heat from the top.


I am excited about doing this again, but I need to get a baking sheet first.

Homemade Oven Fries

How many times did you read or hear or see someone describing this recipe saying "cut the potato, drizzle with some oil and salt. Put it in the oven and you got yourself some homemade fries".

For unknown reason SL decided to leave me one potato unused when she made a pot of mashed potato (yummy!). What can I do with one potato?  SL made some homemade oven fries a few weeks ago and I loved it so I decided to make it myself.

I did not read any recipe nor follow any tips/guides/advices. In hindsight, a mistake.

I cut the potato into ~2-3cm thick slices, used a brush to apply cooking oil on both sides of the sliced potato, and spread the potato on an oiled non-stick baking pan. The oven was turned to 350degree for less than 10 minutes before i popped the potato in. (note to self: plan ahead and give the oven sufficient time to reach the right temperature. How long does it take a fire-heated oven to reach 350degree?).

After 15 minutes, the potato remained soft (where's the crunch??). I tried to flip the potato and it stuck to the pan and began to crumble. In the end, I made mashed potato out of them.

Here are some thoughts for future research.
a) why does the potato stick to the pan when I am using a non-stick pan
b) why is the potato still soft after 20 minutes of baking? Could it be the temperature problem? Should I leave it inside the oven longer?
c) Do I need to make sure that the potato is extremely dry before putting it in the oven? This might be the key