Leeks..

The garden is looking so pretty this spring....

the irises are having their finest moment and there are lots of foxgloves...

even the chives are looking lovely..

There is, though, not much on offer in the veggie garden.  Rhubarb, some lovely spinach, herbs and rainbow chard (sliverbeet) just about sums it up.  It is full of promise (broad beans, potatoes, celery, strawberries, raspberries) and lots of goodies that are just sprouting seedlings (sweetcorn, peas, beans, beetroot, zucchini).  I have been using up the leeks to make way for the tomatoes.

I LOVE leeks.  One of my favourite vegetables.  And like any other vegetable that enters the kitchen lately I have been roasting them, on their own cut up into pieces with a lick of olive oil  or alongside chicken, and with the cooler weather this week I even made some soup:

I just chopped up a few leeks, sauteed them in butter and added a couple of rashers of chopped bacon, cooked for five minutes before adding a chopped potato and enough chicken stock to cover.  Simmer for 15 minutes and puree with a stick blender.  Finish with some chives.

I made some wholemeal pikelets on the Aga.  You don't even need a frying pan, you just cook them directly on the hotplate using a special silicon mat.

WHOLEMEAL PIKELETS

125g wholemeal flour

2 teasp baking powder

1 tblsp castor sugar

1 egg

170ml milk or buttermilk

Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl, add sugar.  Stir in egg and milk and blend until smooth.

Heat a non-stick frying pan and add a teaspoon of butter.  Swirl it around and spoon tablespoons of the mixture onto the pan.

Cook until bubbles appear, then flip them over and give them 30 seconds more.

A great after school snack.