Recipes with leeks

A low-fat vegetable soup loaded with zucchini, mushrooms, spinach, leeks, and stewed tomatoes, spiked with chili powder and oregano. A crumble of blue cheese on each bowl adds a savory finish.

Potato, artichoke, and leek soup pureed silky smooth with fresh thyme and a touch of Tabasco. Served hot or cold, this creamy soup uses milk instead of heavy cream for a lighter bowl.

Vietnamese vegetable spring rolls (cha gio chay) with cellophane noodles, tofu, shredded potato, tree ear mushrooms, and leeks wrapped in crisp rice paper. Fried shatter-crisp on the outside, tender and fragrant inside.

Watercress and leek soup sweats leeks and watercress in margarine for 15 minutes, simmers in stock, then blends smooth. A peppery, vibrant green soup in 30 minutes.

Creamy fish soup with fennel, hake and flounder, simmered in homemade fish stock with leek, carrot, and lovage. A two-fish European-style chowder finished with sour cream and chopped fennel fronds.

Fideus with clams features toasted vermicelli cooked in homemade fish stock with steamed clams, topped with a chive-garlic mayonnaise. A Spanish-inspired seafood pasta worth the effort.

A basic and succulent beef dish that's easy to make when in a hurry. Best served with a fresh loaf of crusty bread.

Fish broth with oysters and saffron simmers a homemade fish fumet with juniper, leeks, and white wine, then adds clams, just-curled oysters, mung bean threads, radicchio, and saffron at serving. A delicate, restaurant-style seafood consomme.

Veal stock built from roasted bones, mirepoix, leek, and tomato, simmered low for hours into a deep, gelatinous foundation. The classical brown stock that anchors French sauces and braises.

Authentic French onion soup built on a homemade veal-and-chicken stock and deeply caramelized onions, ladled over toasted croutons and broiled under a blanket of melted Gruyere. The real, from-scratch classic.

Cornish hens Provencal style braised with tomatoes, saffron, olives, leeks, white wine, and fresh herbs. A one-skillet French country dinner with golden-skinned game hens in 50 minutes.

Slow cooker chicken and dumplings in a creamy white wine and sour cream sauce with leeks, carrots, and herbs. Bisquick dumplings steam on top during the last 30 minutes.

Cream of leek soup builds a butter-flour roux with chicken stock and half and half, then folds in tender steamed leeks. Optional ham and potato additions turn it into a hearty meal.

One-pot beef and corn casserole with rice, peppers, leeks, and carrots simmered in beef broth. Cubed beef browned then slow-cooked with vegetables until tender.

Chicken breasts poached in herbed broth with leeks, carrots, red pepper, and elbow macaroni, finished with fresh thyme and Parmesan. A nourishing, light soup.

Chinese-style stir-fried scallops with leeks, scallions, ginger and garlic in a dark soy, rice wine, chili bean and sesame oil sauce. Ready in 7 minutes of cooking time once everything is prepped.