Spring has its rituals. For me it is the making of maple syrup, planting vegetable seeds and watching them sprout under my grow light, watching the snow disappear, and waiting for the first flush of green in our bush where the wild leeks are emerging. Nature doesn’t seem to change its course too often. With the long, cold spring we had I was thinking that there wouldn’t be any wild leeks for our Mother’s Day soup. A few warm days and there I was, digging them up, a bit small but tasty as usual. This week I dug up some more, a bit bigger and much stronger in flavour. Time to harvest.
Wild Leek Fritters
1 cup flour
3/4 cup rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup club soda
3/4 cup light beer
5 cups wild leeks cut into 1 inch pieces
About 6 cups vegetable oil
Whisk all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
Make a well in the centre and pour in the club soda and beer. Whisk until smooth.
Fold in the wild leeks. Pour the vegetable oil into a large, deep skillet (oil comes up the sides to about 1 inch) and heat over medium-high until a thermometer registers 350°.
Working in batches, place 1/4 cup mounds of batter in skillet: press down lightly to flatten and submerge. Fry, turning once, until fritters are golden brown about 4 minutes total. Transfer to paper towels to drain.
Serve with lemon wedges for squeezing over.
Makes about 20.
Simple Wild Leek Pesto
This is my simple recipe for pesto. I make it with basil, cilantro and parsley when it is growing in abundance. You can use any herb you like. The secret is to have a blender and use a bit of water.
2 cups packed wild leeks—the whole plant
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic
Water
Coarsely chop the wild leeks. If you don’t chop them you will find that the blender will twist them all up instead of chopping them. Been there, done that! Tried saving some time. Parsley will also do the same thing.
Add the leeks and garlic to your blender with the oil and process until mixed. If it is too thick add some water to get the texture you like.
Use for a pasta sauce, in salad dressing, mashed potatoes, rice. I will make a large batch and freeze the pesto in the very small Mason jars and use them all winter. The flavour is just like summer.
