Leek Relish/Confit

When I buy fresh leeks I tend to make a batch of this very tasty relish, which is short term fridge preserve rather than a long keeping pantry one. The recipe was originally taken from the Glass Pantry by Georgeanne Brennan.

The original recipe states

4lbs leeks
Butter for greasing pan
1/2 cup of olive oil
2 teaspoons of salt
2 teaspoons of sugar

The method is very similar as well, although 2 teaspoons of sugar are used in this version.

This is my version

Ingredients

1kg of fresh leeks
Butter
Olive Oil
Sea salt

Finely chop leeks into rings. Pop into a roasting tin/tins and drizzle with olive oil and a pinch of sea salt (I don't use much salt in cooking as OH has high blood pressure). Make sure that the leeks are mixed into the olive oil well. Add a nob of butter and pop into oven gas mark 3 or 4 and cook until golden brown every so often turning the leeks over so they all get done evenly.

The original recipe uses sugar - this helps the leeks caramelise, but I think that there is really no need for this as the leeks are naturally sweet enough. They very rarely get in the fridge here as they are so tasty.

If using cold: Let them cool and then decant into a glass storage jar and put in the fridge. Serve as a relish in sandwiches - it peps them up and makes the ordinary much more flavoursome. They should keep in the fridge for approximately 2 weeks.

If using warm: I serve them warm with a Sunday roast lunch, they can be added to soups, pizzas, stir fries