Chardonnay Poached Leeks and Creme Fraiche Dressing

"I sometimes struggle to come up with innovative & seasonal vegetable accompaniments; this recipe was devised when I had about 4 leeks left after making Leek & Potato soup, and about half a glass of Chardonnay!! It's a cross between poaching & steaming them in the Chardonnay, you don't want too much liquid. When you are ready to serve the leeks, add your creme fraiche & seasonings and you have an elegant & easy vegetable side dish! Try and use thin leeks rather than the tougher & larger leeks. Measurements are based on 4 people - I have allowed one leek per person, based on the fact that there will be other side dishes & maybe potatoes served as well."
 
Download
photo by French Tart photo by French Tart
photo by French Tart
photo by Chef PotPie photo by Chef PotPie
photo by French Tart photo by French Tart
Ready In:
30mins
Ingredients:
8
Serves:
4
Advertisement

ingredients

Advertisement

directions

  • Wash the leeks thoroughly and trim of the very tough green tops and the woody base.
  • Make sure you have some of the green as well as the white of the leeks.
  • Cut the leeks into 1" diagonal slices.
  • Put into a large saucepan and add the Chardonnay or white wine.
  • Add the sugar and stir around.
  • Bring to the boil, without a lid.
  • Turn the heat right down, put the lid on and simmer very gently for about 5 to 10 minutes or until the leeks still hold their shape & colour, but are soft. (Cooking times vary on whether the slices are 1" or smaller/larger!).
  • Add the creme fraiche, pepper & salt and mix gently.
  • Serve with some chopped parsley as a garnish, making sure everyone gets some of the wine & cream sauce!
  • N.B. Grated lemon is also very nice as a finishing touch, especially if you are serving it with fish.

Questions & Replies

Got a question? Share it with the community!
Advertisement

Reviews

  1. What an excellent side dish. Creamy, rich in flavor. Just wonderful. I made them for a lady I cook for, but had to taste them myself. I plan to make this for just myself very soon!<br/>Thank you FT
     
  2. This was delicious!!! I absolutely ADORE leeks & these were fabulous! Thanks you, Karen!
     
  3. This was a very tasty way to use up my leeks after making my Vichissoise.I make this for the The Art of Cooking with French Spirits - ZWT3. I only added 1/4 cup of Chardonnay and it was fantastic.It gives the leeks flavour that makes it really special.I'm so happy to find a new way of enjoying leeks.If you read the book(French Women don't get Fat)that is one of the food she tells you to eat. Thanks for posting. Rita
     
  4. Wonderful! Unfortunately here in this town we have no leeks but the leeks grown under weird circumstances, like high nuclear...haha, just kidding, but we only get leeks of the giant size, thereby TOUGH. It was still delicious. This is still a 5-star recipe, and we hope to find young leeks so we can enjoy it as was meant!
     
  5. I HATE CHARDONNAY! Yes, I was screaming, I know, but I'd rather drink sweet plonk than any snooty bottle of Chardonnay. We had a bit left over in the bottle after having guests for dinner and as my husband got on the plane to go to England to visit his father one of his parting words to me was, "Please drink it, I can't bear for you to throw it out." I thought I was going to have to throw it out and lie about drinking it ;-), but then French Tart offered this recipe up in Tag and I thought this was the perfect opportunity for waste not, want not and to actually benefit from it. I added LOTs of pepper, LOTS of parsley (I know it's just for garnish) and LOTS of lemon zest. The whole thing came out nice and creamy. I had some as a main course with toast and a local dry white to wash it down. Delicious! I used the leftovers the next morning as an omelette filling. I really couldn't taste the flavor of the Chard, but there was a lovely wine-y flavor to the leeks and I'm very pleased with my tag!
     
Advertisement

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<p><strong><span>The sunflowers in the field behind my house in SW France:</span></strong></p> <p><img title=Sunflowers src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/DSCN8221.jpg alt=Sunflowers width=640 height=480 /><br /><strong><span><br /><br />I am British (English-Scottish), but I was born in South Africa and have lived all over the world, including Hong Kong, Germany, Cyprus, USA &amp; Singapore. I have also been very fortunate to have travelled extensively over the years.........I still have wanderlust! <br /><br />I used to be an English Literature &amp; Art History teacher &amp; lecturer; before that, I trained and worked as a Graphic Designer for many years. I now live in France with my husband &amp; my daughter who has just started university in September 2006. We also have one very chatty Burmese cat Willow, who allows us to live with her here! (I used to have three cats, I recently lost Monty, a beautiful seal point Siamese and before that, Rama, who was a debonair blue point Siamese cat - I would love to have another Siamese cat or cats in the future!)</span></strong></p> <p><em><strong><span>This is my Burmese Cat, Willow, sunning herself on the log pile in the kitchen garden:</span></strong></em></p> <p><strong><img title=My src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/ABaconButtyandSundryFoodPhotos34.jpg alt=My width=640 height=480 /></strong></p> <p><strong><span>Here is my lovely Monty, a seal point Siamese, and Willow, sitting&nbsp;in the kitchen garden last year, and a few months before Monty died; he was 18yrs old:</span></strong></p> <p><img title=Monty src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/AbsolutelySinfulStickyToffeePudding.jpg alt=Monty width=640 height=480 />My</p> <p><strong><span>This is my wonderful old boy, Rama, a blue-point Siamese, who died when he was 20yrs old - excuse the old and much sellotaped photo:</span></strong></p> <p><img title=Rama src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/Rama1stOctober2004164.jpg alt=Rama width=517 height=639 /></p> <p><strong><span>My favourite pastimes are: reading, writing, painting &amp; drawing, photography, gardening, anything creative, walking, travelling, dining out and of course COOKING! I love all types of cuisine, but especially Traditional British - and NO it is NOT all bad!! I particularly love food associated with the changing seasons plus traditional feasts &amp; festivals, as well as Slow Cooking. I also enjoy French &amp; North African cuisine, come to think of it, there isn't much I don't like! <br /><br />My husband &amp; I run a Chambres D'Hotes, (Bed and Breakfast) called Auberge de la Fontaine here in beautiful South West France; we specialise in Gourmet Food &amp; Wine Breaks, French Antiques &amp; Restoration courses, French Language courses and French Cookery classes. Our home is completely furnished with Antique French furniture that we have rescued &amp; restored ourselves. Our charming village has one of the oldest Churches in the region &amp; it is famous for its connection with the St.Jacques de Compostella Pilgrimage route, as well as being within the Cognac &amp; Bordeaux wine growing area. <br /><br />We have a wonderful garden where we grow ALL of our own herbs and most of our fruit and vegetables. I specialise in rare, unusual and old-fashioned herbs, which I grow in our walled garden. As well as growing herbs, I also grow many different varieties of lavender, old-fashioned shrub roses and heirloom fruit and vegetables. <br /><br />We have lived overseas for many, many years now - but we both still love going home to Northern England, near Scarborough &amp; York, to visit our family &amp; friends. We also love indulging in dining out when we are there, in a wide variety of EXCELLENT Gastro-Pubs that we have in North Yorkshire; and popping in to have a Pint of REAL ENGLISH ALE in our local pub is a always a must!! <br /></span></strong></p> <p><br /><a href=http://photobucket.com/images/merci%20beaucoup target=_blank><img src=http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/pp287/vi-vie15/Merci/hb09izl7.gif border=0 alt=merci /></a> <br /><br /><strong><span>A Message to all who make and review my recipes! I try very hard to reply to EACH and EVERYONE of you who kindly makes, reviews and photographs my recipes! However, sometimes I am so busy in the B and B, and with other things, that I may be late in sending a personal thank you message, and sometimes I forget completely! I would just like to thank you ALL in advance, and just in case I am late or forgetful in sending a personal thanks. I am always very humbled by anyone who chooses to make one of my recipes, and I love reading the reviews and seeing the beautiful photos that are posted. Merci beaucoup encore! <br /><br />A note about my recipes. All of my posted recipes, whether they be my own concoctions or adaptations from a book or a famous chef, have been tried and tested at least once, by ME! I try to make sure that I am the guinea pig and not you! However, if there is anything you would like ask me about one of my recipes, or a query that I may be able to help you with, please do write and I will try to answer your question as soon as possible. I post my recipes in Imperial (lbs and ozs) and Metric (kilos and grams) as I am British! </span></strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a id=clustrMapsLink href=http://www2.clustrmaps.com/counter/maps.php?url=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/242729><img id=clustrMapsImg title=Locations src=http://www2.clustrmaps.com/counter/index2.php?url=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/242729 alt=Locations /> <br /></a><br /><br /> <object width=550 height=293 data=http://static.travbuddy.com/flash/countries_map.swf?id=4263273 type=application/x-shockwave-flash> <param name=data value=http://static.travbuddy.com/flash/countries_map.swf?id=4263273 /> <param name=bgcolor value=#372060 /> <param name=src value=http://static.travbuddy.com/flash/countries_map.swf?id=4263273 /> <param name=quality value=high /> </object> <br /><br /><br /><a href=http://www.travbuddy.com/travel-widgets><img src=http://static.travbuddy.com/images/widget_map_promote_v2.gif border=0 alt=/ /></a> <br /><a href=http://www.travbuddy.com/register.php><img src=http://static.travbuddy.com/images/widget_map_promote_meet.gif border=0 alt=/ /></a> <br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><span>A Swish Slideshow!! <br /></span></strong><br /> <object width=480 height=360 data=http://w146.photobucket.com/pbwidget.swf?pbwurl=http://w146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/Food type=application/x-shockwave-flash> <param name=data value=http://w146.photobucket.com/pbwidget.swf?pbwurl=http://w146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/Food /> <param name=src value=http://w146.photobucket.com/pbwidget.swf?pbwurl=http://w146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/Food /> <param name=wmode value=transparent /> </object> <a href=http://photobucket.com/slideshows target=_blank><img src=http://pic.photobucket.com/slideshows/btn.gif alt=/ /></a><a href=http://s146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/Food%202009/?action=view?t=f58f3c11.pbw target=_blank><img src=http://pic.photobucket.com/slideshows/btn_viewallimages.gif alt=/ /></a> <br /><br /><br /><strong><span>Awards: <br /></span></strong><br /><img src=http://www.satsleuth.com/cooking/MelbourneCup1st.JPG border=0 alt=/ /> <br /><br /><img src=http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c99/ruemke/ft.jpg alt=/ /> <br /><br /><br /><img src=http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c99/ruemke/food/a.jpg alt=/ /> <br /><br /><br /><img src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/Zaar%20Food%20Photos/SassyBanner.jpg border=0 alt=Photo /> <br /><br /><br /><strong><span>I have participated in:</span></strong> <br /><br /><br /><br /><img src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/Herb1BaySTKR.jpg alt=/ /> <br /><img src=http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m445/mliss29/vegn%20swap/vegnswap.jpg alt=/ /> <br /><img src=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/annacia/Permanent%20Banners/apple-a-day-oct-09.jpg border=0 alt=Photobucket /> <br /><img src=http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z205/jubespage/ZaarBanners/170ae11e.jpg alt=/ /> <br /><img src=http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j166/ZaarNicksMom/Animation6.gif alt=/ /> <br /><img src=http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j166/ZaarNicksMom/PACsticker-Adopted.jpg alt=/ /> <br /><img src=http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z205/jubespage/ZaarBanners/recipetag2-1.jpg alt=/ /> <br /><img src=http://www.recipezaar.com/members/home/1956/herbssticker1.jpg alt=/ /> <br /><img src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/ThymeSticker.jpg alt=/ /> <br /><img src=http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-11/484938/Hot.spicy.tastySTKR.jpg alt=/ /> <br /><img src=http://www.recipezaar.com/members/home/1956/samethingsticker.jpg alt=/ /> <br /><img src=http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t229/axerage/aboutmetagcopy.jpg alt=/ /> <br /><img src=http://www.recipezaar.com/members/home/1956/saladsticker.jpg alt=/ /> <br /><img src=http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z205/jubespage/2008AussieNZChristmasCardExchange.gif alt=/ /> <br /><img src=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3488/3314808827_fd1070a8f8_m.jpg alt=/ /> <br /><a href=http://s146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/Birthday%20and%20Celebration%20Images/?action=view?t=ParsleyBanner.jpg target=_blank><img src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/Birthday%20and%20Celebration%20Images/ParsleyBanner.jpg border=0 alt=Photobucket /></a> <br /><img src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/Birthday%20and%20Celebration%20Images/FrenchCheeseoftheWeekClub.jpg border=0 alt=Photobucket /> <br /><img src=http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg271/MrsTeny/CookathonforKarensticker.jpg alt=/ /> <br /><img src=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/annacia/Permanent%20Banners/i-connected-125.jpg border=0 alt=Photobucket /> <br /><img src=http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj81/HokiesLady65/totmtaggame-1.jpg border=0 alt=Photobucket /> <br /><img src=http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z205/jubespage/AussieRecipeSwap.gif alt=/ /> <br /><img src=http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/jewelies/Cooking-Kangaroo-1-1.jpg alt=/ /> <br /><img src=http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b280/carolinamoon21/Ingredients/FISHSEAFDSTICKER.jpg alt=/ /> <br /><img src=http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b280/carolinamoon21/Ingredients/CROCKPOTSTKR.jpg alt=/ /> <br /><img src=http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a132/tgifford/Game%20Room%20Banners/AM%20Banners/holidaybadge.gif border=0 alt=Photobucket /> <br /><img src=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/annacia/pt-shutterbug-banner-1.jpg border=0 alt=Photobucket /> <br /><img src=http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b367/chefpaulag/banners/cookathonLorac-1.jpg?t=1217936137 alt=/ /> <br /><img src=http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/DUCHESS13/homepage/ZWT4-ChallengeHostAboutMe.gif alt=/ /> <br /><img src=http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-11/484938/MayFlowerssticker.jpg alt=/ /> <br /><img src=http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b280/carolinamoon21/Ingredients/Flourpowersticker.jpg alt=/ /> <br /><img src=http://www.satsleuth.com/cooking/Swap14.JPG alt=/ /> <br /><img src=http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b280/carolinamoon21/Ingredients/PastastickerJPEG.jpg alt=/ /> <img src=http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b280/carolinamoon21/Ingredients/Kaffee-sticker.jpg alt=/ /><img src=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v204/derf16/food%20photography%20series/MuffinLovesticker.jpg alt=/ /> <br /><img src=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v204/derf16/food%20photography%20series/Comfortstickercopysmall.jpg alt=/ /><img src=http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b280/carolinamoon21/Ingredients/Other/photo-swap-7sticky.jpg alt=/ /> <img src=http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q23/vseward/Bevy/officialmemberofthebevtaggame.jpg alt=/ /><img src=http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b280/carolinamoon21/personal/FRENCH-foodfun.jpg alt=/ /><img src=http://www.recipezaar.com/members/home/1956/holidaylightssticker.jpg alt=/ /> <img src=http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-11/484938/Spelling-Bee-stick2jpg.jpg alt=/ /><img src=http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/BtoBHosts.jpg border=0 alt=Photo /><img src=http://www.recipezaar.com/members/home/1535/CLC1.gif alt=/ /><img src=http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b280/carolinamoon21/TasteofYellow.jpg alt=/ /><img src=http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/DUCHESS13/FFF/Switzerland-FFF4.gif alt=/ /><img src=http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/untitled.jpg border=0 alt=Photobucket /><img src=http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/projects/200_PACpic.jpg border=0 alt=Photo /><img src=http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/projects/pacbanner.jpg border=0 alt=Photo /> <img src=http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/DUCHESS13/Zaar%20World%20Tour%203/ZWT-ChallengeHostBanner.gif alt=/ /><img src=http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/DUCHESS13/Zaar%20World%20Tour%203/ZWT3-Participation.gif alt=/ /> <img src=http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f249/Dreamgoddess555/Narrow1-1.jpg alt=/ /><img src=http://www.satsleuth.com/cooking/RecipeSwap2.JPG alt=width=50% /> <br /><img src=http://www.recipezaar.com/members/home/1535/samethingsticker.jpg alt=/ /><img src=http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/Adopted1smp.jpg border=0 alt=Photo /><img src=http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/smPACp.jpg border=0 alt=PAC /><img src=http://www.recipezaar.com/members/home/1535/cheesesticker.jpg alt=/ /><a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/cookbook.php?bookid=148021 target=_blank> <img src=http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/DUCHESS13/RSC%20Banners/RSC10-FrenchTart.jpg alt=/ /></a><a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/cookbook.php?bookid=119602 target=_blank> <img src=http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/DUCHESS13/RSC%20Banners/RSC9-FrenchTart.jpg alt=/ /></a></p>
 
View Full Profile
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Find More Recipes