Leeks

We have another interesting ingredient in our crop share this week:  leeks!  I know, next question is, "What's a leek?"  It kinda looks like a scallion, and they are actually closely related to both onions and garlic.  Leeks are much milder, however.  The white and light-green parts are what you want to eat, and for simplicity you can pretty much use them wherever you'd use onions.  They're an aromatic, like onions, celery, and fennel, so you can put them in things like seafood en papillote.  One of my favorite uses is to put them in pot pies in place of (or in addition to) onions.  For example I've put them in this, this, and they work particularly well in this and this.

Reading up on leeks, I recently learned that they're highlighted in a number of Turkish dishes.  That gives me a great excuse to branch out into a new palate.  Two traditional Turkish dishes are at the top of my "to try" list.

Photo via writekolik.com
(Google Translate can help you)

The first is Etli Pırasa Dolmas.  (Don't ask me how to pronounce that correctly.  No clue.)  Dolmas basically means a leaf wrapped around a filling of rice, spices, and sometimes meat.  For example, stuffed grape leaves you often find at Greek restaurants.  In this case, "tubes" of layers from the leek are softened in boiling salt water, then filled with ground meat.

Photo via Almost Turkish

The second dish is one of the signature dishes of Turkey, Zeytinyağlı Pırasa (again, I'm no help with pronunciation).  Here, the leeks are sort of poached in olive oil with some carrots, and mixed with lemony rice.  Which sounds amazing.