We grow a leek varietal called Lancaster here at Secretts which is a traditional ‘open pollinated’ variety. We start off our seeds in trays and grow under glass in February and they stay inside until the plants are big enough to plant out. Once they are ready we dib the soil and plant on in the field. We grew 100,000 plants last year.

Lancaster Leeks are a  variety developed for the second early and main season growing period. The dark green foliage, strong leaf habit and excellent leaf uniformity are loved by growers and retailers.

Scroll down to view and download kitchen copies of our leek recipes written for Secretts by local food writers.

Leeks are fabulous in soups, tarts, quiche and make a good replacement for onions in sauces. We have a few leek recipes which you can try below. You can use all of the leek but the top green leaves are slightly tougher than its white shank. It used to be common for only the white part of the leek to be used in recipes like Vichyssoise (A French cream of leek soup traditionally served hot or cold) but there has been a shift. The “Love Food Hate Waste” movement started a few years ago looked at vegetables such as leeks to encourage consumers to use more of the edible leaves which we heartily approve of.

Preparation  

Leeks are a layered vegetable which grow in the ground so its really important to wash them thoroughly otherwise you could end up with a gritty sandy texture in your dish. Here are some guidelines for preparing this wonderfully versatile vegetable.

Secretts Leek Recipes 

New and featured in our March Newsletter we have a fabulous recipe for Chicken & Leek Pies with a Chilli Butter Puff Pastry. This recipe was created by Lara Green of ‘the Green kitchen’  who is a customer of Secretts and a local food writer. This caught our eye on instagram and Lara very kindly agreed to let us feature it here and in our March Newsletter. Scroll down to view the recipe and if you fancy making it download a printable A4 kitchen copy Chicken & Leek Pies .

 

This delicious Leek Gratin recipe first appeared in our newsletter published in November 2021 and was written and photographed for us by Elizabeth Silver a talented food photographer and recipe writer. Liz has worked for a top UK retailer and Food Ingredient Companies before taking time out to bring up her family. A regular customer at the farm shop we were delighted when Liz agreed to work with us.

Take a look at the recipe and if you fancy making it download a kitchen copy here (we take out the images so its does’t use up all the ink in your printer! A4 kitchen copy Leek Gratin

Recipe writer Shirlee Posner created this recipe for Premier Magazine for her bi monthly recipe column featuring Secretts Produce. Take a look at the recipe and if you want to give it a go remember you can download an easy print kitchen copy here kitchen copy leek pancakesA4