Hazelnut Gratin of Leeks and Turnips

Handsome Consort and I have a vegetable garden for the second year now. It's not much, just about a 2' x 25' strip along the side of the house. But along with the strawberries and herbs in the front, and the passionfruit and concord grape vines on the back trellis, we produce a fair amount of edible treats. Or in the case of zucchini, an unfair amount. Mon dieu, what did moi ever do to bring this plague d'courgettes?

This year's veggies so far have been peas (oh, fresh peas are the bessssst), zucchini (Beware! It's calling from inside the house!), peppers, tomatoes, turnips and leeks.

Oh, leeks. Leeks, leeks, leeks. Deleektable, deleekcious leeks. Rather pricey to buy, leeks are a cinch to grow. But mine never got the chance to get quite as beefy and thick as storebought. We've been harvesting them when a little thicker than a thumb. Fortunately, it was determined that they stay much more tender and sweet than storebought this way, so more of the greens can be eaten as-is (rather than used in puree or broth, which are just fine for the stringier tops.)

Also fine for stringy tops: kitty torment!


Fear me, leeks! Fear my teeth that shred! and paws! that kind of ...ineffectually grasp! when I teeter on my back feet!




Sven thinks the leeks are destined to be with him. He's kind of in love with them. Maybe because he's a turniphead. Because actually, this bunch of leeks is destined for a gratin with turnips and crunchy hazelnuts.



First, you take a leek.


And cut into small pieces while your Handsome Consort wrangles with A Ginormous Turnipohedron. Here, I did pieces about 3" long. Next time, I think I'd do only 1" pieces, so they could be laid in the gratin on their ends rather than on their sides.



Since the turnip was such a monster, the usual peel and slice rounds routine was no-go, so bascially the turnips are thin-sliced into little cracker-sized pieces.

Then they all got loaded into a very Alton Brownified steaming rig for about 15 minutes.



The mixture which will enswath the veggies in augratinny goodness begins with two eggs and 2/3 C half and half.



To which I added a teaspoon of garlic, and half a teaspoon each of kosher salt, white pepper and freshly grated nutmeg.



Whisk these together and then add half a cup of finely grated parmesan (or asiago, which I often use instead.)



Layer the steamed turnips in your baking dish and top with the leeks. Pour the cheese mixture over them.



*pat pat pat* There. Now you feel butter, hmm? (I think that leek joke envigorated some kind of zinger gland I didn't know I had.)

Now pop that in the oven at 375 for about 20 minutes, after which you'll top it with the crunch crumb mixture:



Crush half a cup of hazelnuts, mix with another quarter cup cheese and about a cup of good bread crumbs. Plus maybe a tablespoon or two of softened butter.

Crumbs, chief!


Have you seen this, have you heard about this? You buy one of those store bakery french loaves and you eat some of it with brie, and some of it with ascolana olive oil, and the rest goes stale immediately. So you put it in a bag and whack it with a shoe, and viola! Good bread crumbs. Keep them airtight.

So, you top the gratin with the crumb mixture after about 20 minutes, and bake for another 10-15. Then you get this!




Mmmmmmm it's goooood.


It breaks up into a hash of noms like so:




That was my seconds. Very tasty, served with a lemon pepper sockeye salmon. Of course, you know what happens when the blogging project is dinner...



Delicious lazy dessert!


Media pairing...

The whole internet knows that nothing goes better with slinging leeks than Finnish polkas!