(sorry --it was jes' too irresistible)
Below is mah entry fer the Throwdown hosted by Allison, the star of her show is LEEKS.
But first, Shhh! I has a secret to share: Magical Leek Soup.
Magical, ya' ask? Uh-huh. The soup is the flagship recipe of Mireille Guiliano's
French Women Don't get Fat.
Mireille oughta know--she did a junior year abroad in NYC (years an' years ago) only to arrive home in France to cries of "Ecouter!" Apparently the American standard diet worked it's horror on the formerly svelte coed, pumping her up like a balloon over Burgundy. The mother cried, the father shook his head an' the family doctor was called in---eh? Voila! A weekend on the Magical Leek Soup an' the French Miss was on the road to recovery. Over the summer she regained her fashionably French figure an' went on to become the CEO of Clicquot (yes, mah dahlinks, the Champagne company) and to divide her time between New Yawk, an' Provence. Doan'cha love it when the snooty French have ter suffer?
She still uses the Magical Leek soup to control her weight despite eatin' a cartload of corporate food. Madame swears if you will fast by eatin' the soup for two days, magically 3 pounds will drop like biscuits offa yore doughy thighs. Thas right, 3 pounds in two days. Seems a lotta folks in NYC agree--after a few months of Madame Guiliano's book hoverin' on best seller list, leeks wuz in short supply even in the Korean markets.
Leeks is milder to your tummy than others in the onion clan, an' they's two other wonderful thangs: A diruetic an' antiseptic.
Try it yoreself an lemme know if the Magic Soup let ya shimmy back into yore skinny jeans.
MAGICAL LEEK SOUP (Broth)
Serves 1 for the weekend
Ingredients
2 pounds leeks
1. Clean the leeks and rinse well to get rid of sand and soil. Cut off the ends of the dark green parts, leaving all the white parts plus a suggestion of pale green. (Reserve the extra greens for soup stock.)
2. Put the leeks in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer uncovered for 20 to 30 minutes. Pour off the liquid and reserve. Place the leeks in a bowl.
The juice is to be drunk (reheated or at room temperature to taste) every 2 to 3 hours, 1 cup at a time. For meals, or whenever hungry, have some of the leeks themselves, 1/2 cup at a time. Drizzle with a few drops of extra-virgin olive oil and lemon juice. Season sparingly with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with chopped parsley if you wish. This will be your nourishment for both days, until Sunday dinner, when you can have a small piece of meat or fish (4 to 6 ounces -- don't lose that scale yet!), with 2 vegetables, steamed with a bit of butter or olive oil, and a piece of fruit.
But...thas' her recipe, an' she has a few other leek recipes that I wuz tempted to snitch--scallops on a bed of steamed leeks with champagne sauce did catch mah eye.
Then I had a dental appointment on the high rent side of town. As a reward fer all the oral anguish, I popped into Fresh Market. Mebbe y'all has one--mah side of town doan have one. So it is an adventure fer Aunty. An adventure in sticker shock!
Doan know about y'all, but 40 bucks fer a pint of olive oil made me scratch mah haid--who pays this? (uh yeah, Tiger's Elin sends her chef thar') Well, surely leeks cain't cost TOO much.
There wuz an aisle of dawggie treats ( high priced !) a line of Barefoot Contessa cup cake mixes--oh wait, this ain't a shoppin' throwdown.
The leeks wuz humbled, ridin' home in a Cracker buggy an' not in a Ferrari as if it were goin' home wif' Dwight Howard.
I thought I'd make a fabulous roasted vegetable cous cous wif' leeks, white sweet potatoes, butternut squash to go wif some Moroccan spiced lamb. So simple. Jes' dice into half inch pieces a sweet potato, the neck of a butternut squash, an' four leeks--white part only (save greens to cook in veggie soup).
Drizzle diced veggies wif' olive oil (oh go ahead--use the $10 per pint variety..heh), then sprinkle wif' salt and pepper an roast at 375 fer about 30 minutes. Prepare couscous accordin' to box, add in some cinnamon if ya' wanna git some exotic flavor goin'--then toss roasted veggies in couscous and spoon onto a platter, place roasted lamb over the couscous.
We had lucious Spanish Clementines fer dessert. Wish y'all had been heah!
19 comments:
Wish I'd been there too, I love lamb and that looks luscious.
Now Aunty, I've never perceived you to be a woman who would have the need for the Magical Leek Soup so do you know someone who has tried it and pronounced it a success?
Wow, that's a lot of information to digest and process. Really cool entry. I'll never like N. African "cuisine" because it's slop invented by inbred sandamites, but what the heck.
Dear Aunty,
In the beginning ...
I wuz guessin you was going to drown them leeks in champagne.
But, what you did with them... is way more interesting. To the point I spect Uncle will take to askin when's the next throwdown! Great job, and yes please do another post on the Market.
PS) Does ya recommend this meal to a woman with a sore tooth?
Shamy,
I know you'd have been right in thar' wif' me gettin' this throwdown done! I heered your kitchen skills is legendary.
Heh..oh YES, Aunty does need the leek soup. An yes, it is a success. It is a recent discovery fer me.
Troll-eye-catchin'-man
now doan dismiss N. African cuisine--some of it is French influenced--oh wait, yain't favorin' Frenchies either huh? Thanky Troill--it were a good dinner.
Fishy
does ya have a tooth painin' ya too? Oh no. Yep--the dinner is soft enough fer a pain in the tooth repast. An' I might do a market post--I tell ya, they carry Dagoba chocolates, French lemondade--gettin' the feel of it?
Auntie: if you don't win, then I just don't know about these challenges anymore. Any time you can cook lamb, well, that just is an automatic 1000 points.
Yummm-eee! My mouth is watering, and I'm not making it up!
I'm believing the French Woman. If that's all I ate for 3 days, I'd probably lose 5 pounds.
Ok, once again we are simpatico with the EEks leeks! haha! I saw Chef Emeril Lagasse make Cafe Brulot last night and thought of you....
I read that book French Women don't get Fat and she fails to mention all the appetite-suppressing cigarettes French women smoke! (I should keep this book in my kitchen, forgot about all the recipes!) I suppose you'd lose weight eating the leek soup, like a "high end" version of the good ol' cabbage soup diet.
Love those Clementines, think I'll pick up a crate too. La Diva was eyeing them the other day but was on my bike!
For variation, you could use the Israeli couscous, add some flat leaf parsley and preserved lemon to the leeks and squash! YUM!
Very nice, very nice Aunty. It's only just after 8 am and now i'm craving some champers.....!
And . . . Aunty sneaks in with a last minute entry that is making me rethink my whole judging strategy. Wow, this looks GREAT!
BTW, Aunty? French women don't get fat because they're too busy bitching at everything. Takes a LOT of energy :o)
Oh, and Troll? You haven't lived until you've eaten a Bastilla. So just stick your fingers in your ears and go for it.
I remember a similar soup recipe a few years back that was all the diet rage using cabbage instead of leeks. The leek soup sounds like it'd be easier on the digestive system.
I like where you went with this. The Moroccan spices for the lamb, was it a ras el hanout spice mix. I've made this before (without the saffron) and it is outstanding. On top of your vegetable Cous Cous, I'll bet it tasted great.
Buzz, YOU of all people making cous cous with a ras el hanout mix? Did the pudge eat it? Sounds so very exotic for your family! Good for you!
Want LAMB NOW! : )
You must win. Excellent post.
That looks good and I don't even like lamb. I think my brain is seeing that as pork.
I could not bring myself to do this smackdown. I've never eaten a leek and suddenly making something with it seemed false somehow.
I await the next challenge.
Diva
I didn't make the cous cous but I did make the lamb. And I also made a Shiraz Honey reduction to go with it. Everyone loved it including the pudge. This was from AllRecipes.com and I made my own bastardized ras el hanout. I still have some left in a tupperware container. I keep forgeting I have it, but now that it's on my mind...
Kymmie!
Lamb is waaay underrated in mah view...thanky fer yore kind words.
Troll-Man,
yep, them petulant Frenchy wimmen is prolly VERY correct on anything about they bodies.
La Diva C!
Heh...thas' it! A high end cabbage soup. An I think yore idea of lemon added to the couscous is a keeper!
Moi, Cherie,
I'se sorry fer the late entry--whacky day an I shoulda jes' left it at the soup, but since we wuz havin' the leeky dinner--well, thought I would take the pics and do the drill.
BuzzKill!
I can totally see ya' makin couscous and that honey Shiraz reduction--mercy!! An' I can see Pudge cheerin' ya on. I sometimes hides bits of verboten veggies in rice pilaf or couscous-- (yep, UNcle is that picky an ONIONS is a no no fer him)( oh the rub fer the lamb is a simple lemon, mint, allspice, turmeric, honey, olive oil mix.)
FC!!
Oh no--ya doan like lamb?? Lemme post a fabulous lamb recipe that might convert ya! a butterflied leg of lamb that marinates overnight. We did miss yore entry this time--no more playin' hooky, teach!
Good afternoon Aunty Belle,
Man, that it sure looks tasty. I'm quite fond of lamb, matter fact I'm quite fond of just about everything you put on the plate. Great job!
One could still drink beer, while on the magic diet. Right?
Dawg, Aint B, 'at 'ere looks gooder'n gopher. An' gopher's the best there is. Duller ain't awful fonda lamb, but DS is gonna bless yer socks off. 8-]
I ain't been to Fresh Market in a coon's age. Sticker shock, indeed! Plus, it's on the other end of the next county. Reckon ridin' home in a sidecar'd humble them lofty leeks? 8-}
Come on by; I have declared a Leek Winner!
How did I miss your entry? I think a magical leek soup (and as far as I can it doesn't contain any "magical" mushrooms) is pretty swell.
btw, my organic leeks were $2.48 per pound.
i love leeks ..
:)
I like the sound of both those recipes :)
Lamb is probably my favourite roast meat. Whenever anyone says 'Are you a vegan, too?', I always reply that I couldn't live the rest of my life with a nice little lamb chop. Couscous is a much under-rated accompaniment and I think even I could manage to make that :)
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