Baby Leeks and Miso Butter
A simple side dish to accompany dips and cheeses, this recipe is the perfect use for those leftover baby leeks once you’ve transplanted your main crop into position. From this stage you can eat them as they are, chop them into a salad or stew, or blend them into a green salsa for a sweet, smoky flavour bomb that can be frozen and preserved for later, then used as an alternative for onions and stock in soups and stews.
Most baby leek recipes rely on them as an accompanying ingredient to bacon or cheese with a tone of garlic and herbs, but here I wanted to explore the wonderful simplicity of the leeks themselves and how transformative they can be when given just the right amount of heat and a little saltiness. The first time I cooked this for Huw was on a fire-pit, where the leeks received just 30-40 second of heat before we ate them, unseasoned and fresh from the soil. But in this version I’ll show you how to cook them at home in your kitchen.
Baby Leek and Miso Butter Recipe
Side Dish
As many spare baby leeks as you have*
150g Unsalted butter
2tbsp Sweet white miso
Optional: Green coriander seeds
*This recipe can be scaled up for larger leeks but they will need blanching first to soften.
Step 1.
To prepare your miso butter, weigh a room temperature unsalted butter and add the miso to it. Stir in and store it in either an airtight tub in the fridge or make a sausage with it using baking parchment or cling film and freeze it. To do this properly, the best way is on a metal work counter. Rub the surface with a kitchen towel to build up a static charge and lay the parchment or cling film over it. If using cling film, rub this again and lay another layer over it, then rub that again to flatten. The static helps to hold the material down whilst you load it up with miso butter, then pick up one edge and fold it over the butter, pulling it tight as you squeeze it into a sausage shape. Roll the whole lot up and twist the ends to close. When it comes to using the butter, simply cut a disc off from the end and rewrap. This also works for cookie dough.
Step 2.
Clean the leeks and remove the roots, then chop any excess off the tops whilst leaving an amount to use as a handle. Heat a grill pan or large flat frying pan to smoke point and lay the leeks in it dry, leaving the tops to hang over the edge.
Turn them after 20-30 seconds to avoid over charring until both sides are charred and the outside skin is splitting. Turn the heat down and put in 2tbsp of the miso butter and a pinch of green coriander seeds. Let it bubble and brown for a minute, then plate up the whole lot (butter and all) and enjoy.