Vermouth Braised Leeks with Sourdough Parmesan Crumbs

Vermouth Braised Leeks with Toasty Sourdough Parmesan Crumbs

A winter/early spring vegetable side dish highlighting leeks. Leek hearts are braised in dry vermouth and chicken stock, then placed over a layer of herb and lemon creme fraiche, topped with day-old sourdough breadcrumbs, toasted in garlic butter and sprinkled with parmesean.

This is a great side dish to a classic roasted chicken or part of an Easter brunch. To be honest, we ate these by themselves between the two of us standing up in the kitchen. The most important part of this recipe is preparing the leeks prior to cooking. There is nothing worse than leeks that contain grit (there is no going back and fixing it), so do your best to trim and thoroughly rinse before even thinking about moving on.

Cleaning Leeks

After the leeks are cleaned, brown them cut side down in a very large pan over medium-high heat. After flipping them over but before adding liquid for the braise process, remove any of the loose layers of leek that feel remotely tough. Overdo it vs under do it. Your goal is to create little parcels that can be easily sliced through with a knife, and fiberous leaves don’t allow that.

Day Old Sourdough Crumbles

The most essential layer to the success of this leek dish is the sourdough crumbles. This will simply not be as good if you use store bought breadcrumbs. You want slightly funky (sourdough), irregularly shaped crispies that will hold butter and garlic. It’s the perfect way to use up the heels of sourdough, or anything that may have been left out for too long.

vermouth braised leeks with sourdough breadcrumbs

Vermouth vs Wine Braise

Traditionally, a dry white wine would be used to braise something like this, but I didn’t have wine that fit the bill. You know what I did have? Vermouth (go figure). Don’t use a nice drinking vermouth like the one we did for Clever Beast Botanicals. You want something dry. I used Noilly Prat original dry which has chamomile and coriander notes. And this is a nice teachable moment, but please always store your vermouth in the fridge! Don’t leave it out on the counter or behind the bar for weeks. It will taste awful. Then it really will only be good for cooking at best.

vermouth braised leeks with sourdough breadcrumbs

Vermouth Braised Leeks with Sourdough Parmesan Crumbs

INGREDIENTS 

6-8 small-medium leeks

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt

freshly ground pepper


½ cup dry vermouth (like Noilly Prat) or dry white wine

½ cup chicken stock

2 slices sourdough bread, toasted or stale

1 tablespoon high-quality butter

1 clove garlic, grated
 freshly grated parmesean cheese

1/3 cup creme fraiche

1 handful flat leaf parsley leaves

zest of 1 lemon

juice of 1 lemon

DIRECTIONS

1. Trim leeks to remove dark green ends and roots. Only the white and pale green sections of the leek should remain. Cut the leeks in half lengthwise and place in a bowl of cold water. Rinse the leeks and run under a faucet to get water in between layers. Do this as long as it takes to remove all grit.

2. Peel off any outer layers that are thick and too fibrous. Set aside leek hearts and begin to heat pan.

3. Heat a large pan over medium high heat on the stove. The pan should ideally be large enough to hold the leeks in a single layer, although you can work in batches. Add olive oil and place leeks cut side down without moving for about five minutes to brown. Flip and cook on back side for an additional four minutes. Season the cut side with salt and pepper. If your pan can’t accomodate all leeks, remove the cooked leeks and repeat with the remaining batch. Since the leeks soften and shrink during cooking, you may be able to place all leeks within the pan once cooked for braising.

4. Remove any outer layers that have become too papery and return all leeks to the pan in a single layer, cut side down. Pour in vermouth (or wine), then add chicken stock. The chicken stock should come only to the top of the leeks, so add or subtract this quanitity as needed since it will vary with the size of your pan and leeks.

5. Bring the liquid to a boil and reduce the heat until it simmers. Cook uncovered for about 20 minutes or until the leeks can be pierced with a knife. Most of the liquid will have evaporated.

6. During cooking, prepare herb creme fraiche and sourdough crumbs. To prepare the creme fraiche, place creme fraiche, lemon zest and juice, and herbs in a container with an immersion blender and pulse until smooth and green. Alternatively, herbs can be finely chopped and stirred into this mixture.

7. To make sourdough crumbs, toast and cool bread if not already stale. Tear or chop, or ideally, place in a food processor to create irregular crumbles. Place in a large pan over medium heat with butter and grated garlic. Stir to combine and continue to toast. Add grated parmesean to taste and remove from stove.

8. To plate, spoon creme fraiche mixture on a large platter. Top with leeks. Add sourdough crumbs on top and top with additional parmesean and parsley.

vermouth braised leeks with sourdough breadcrumbs