As it is usually less tender, the dark green part of leek leaves is often discarded. At My Pinch of Italy we really hate wasting food – especially when we have a thousand and one ways to reuse those small scraps and cuts that would normally end up in the compost.
A good way to put to use the harder, dark green leaves of your leek is to throw them into your weekly vegetable broth. Most vegetable scraps can actually be used to add flavour and depth to an otherwise very simple recipe.
Onions, carrots and celery are the basic ingredients for a delicious, healthy alternative to stock cubes – and there’s more: the boiled vegetables can be used to cook some excellent veggie patties.
Fancy an original topping for a soup, a risotto or even a salad? Look no further, we’ve got you covered!
Cut the dark green part of your leek into very thin slices or strips, then lightly flour them and fry them up in a few tablespoons of seed oil. Place the fried leek strips on some kitchen paper to absorb some of the oil on their surface, then simply sprinkle them on your favourite dishes, like this Creamy Leek and Potato Soup.
These strips add so much flavour that you’ll never want to throw away the dark green part of leeks again!
8 Comments
I love leeks, and hate the idea of throwing so much of them away.
Excellent post – thank you!
Hi Ron!
Thank you for your comment
Oh yes, that’s a good way to use something that is usually thrown away, a real shame.
This is a great tip. I keep vegetable odds and ends in a bag in the freezer to use in my homemade stocks and it helps add so much flavor.
I love finding ways to use up parts of food that I would otherwise throw away. Can’t wait to try to prepare them as you suggested.
I never thought about to use the dark green part of the leeks, but these all sound like great ideas. Can’t wait to give these ideas a try.
Oh I never knew how to use the dark green part, so thank you for sharing! Gonna have to test out some new recipes!
I always hated tossing the green part of the leeks. Thanks for the great ideas.
Sandi,
Glad to have given you a good advice 🙂