Potato Leek Casserole

Since we subscribed to the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) , we’ve been inundated with new and never-eaten-before vegetables. Well not that the CSA forces that on us, we can pick what we want but we always feel like getting new vegetables to break the ennui resulting from the same-old-veggies! So one time we got leeks. Now let me tell you  there was a time when I wasn’t sure that leeks were vegetables!

Thus began my search for a recipe that uses leeks as the primary vegetable. My favorite source is allrecipes.com but sometimes I like to search foodgawker too – it’s a feast for the eyes! And it’s the last site you should go to if you’re hungry! Anyways, I found this Cheesy Potato Leek Casserole through foodgawker and I must say that we absolutely loved it! Here’s a poor photo of it – unfortunately I couldn’t grab a photo when it came right from the oven. Our tummies beckoned it more than the camera.

Well you must be thinking being half eaten is not the only problem with the photo There’s poor lighting, bad background and so on and so forth. However I though no photo is better than a not-so-good photo!

I modified the ingredients a little bit based on what I had at home and would suggest the same to all. There’s no need to stick to the veggies listed here – feel free to substitute them with what you like and what you have. Having said that I’m not sure how it’ll turn out with veggies that contain a lot of water like tomato, zucchini, etc.

Here’s what I used:

• 4 leeks
• 1 onion
• 1-2 big potato
• 3-4 fresno peppers (or any other mild pepper)
• 2 carrots
• 4 oz cream cheese (= 2 mini tubs of cream cheese)
• some leftover heavy cream (around 1/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup shredded mozarella
• 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

To cook:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F.
2. For the veggies:
• Potato – peel and slice thinly about 1/8 inch
• Peppers, Leeks and onion – chop them
• Carrot – grate it.
3. Stir fry all veggies except potato.
4. Soften the cream cheese by microwaving it and then whisk it a little.
5. Add the cream cheese and the heavy cream to the veggies and mix well. No need to heat them together.
6. Grease a 8” X 8” baking dish.
7. Line it with potatoes and then spread the veggie mixture on top of it. Spread the bread crumbs and the mozzarella cheese on top.
8. Bake for 30-40 minutes.