The first rule of making dinner on a busy weeknight has got to be not to overthink it. I fail miserably in that department all the time, I fall into that trap of thinking in terms of eating some main thing with a side thing on something else, as if this were some dinner party I was planning. Dinner can be just the one thing and it can still be quite satisfying in all regards. The perfect example of that is to have, for dinner, simply leeks.
This dish might sound fancy, and you could pass if off as such if you wanted it to be the starting course at your dinner party. It is also the simplest of dinners when you place a piece of bread and some butter beside it. Braising is nothing more than searing something to get some nice colour on it, before cooking it through in a little liquid in the very same pan. Sprinkle the tops of these leeks with a little cheese and breadcrumbs, stick them under the broiler for couple of minutes and you have the gratin part. Don’t feel confined to use the same herbs or cheese or even leeks here. Use what you have and as long as your vegetable is fork tender before you blitz the cheese on top, you can’t go wrong.
This story and the recipe that goes with it can be found in “GO-TO MEALS”, ISSUE 011 of Le Sauce Magazine! Get it here: http://www.lesauce.com/app