09 avril 2007
Manresa-Passard (3) : the leek's path
We are still at Love Apple Farm, it is 9 AM and chef David Kinch is pulling young leeks out of the ground.
Just by the way, the leeks at the San Francisco farmers' market do not look quite the same. You cannot have it all: size and finesse. Thin young leeks, in French, are called "poireaux crayons" (pencil leeks) and, in Normandy, "porette" (doesn't translate).
Back to our pencil leeks, then. One of Cynthia's dogs is very proud to sit beside them for the picture, as if he had pulled them out of their patch himself.
Oh, here's the other one. They sort it out by the beet patch.
Back at Manresa, David does not waste time. He cleans and trims the leeks immediately.
A thorough wash...
Julie, Alain Passard's assistant, slits the leeks lengthwise to achieve, after cooking, a "millefeuille" effect.
By 8 PM, the result is on the tables: stewed young leeks in oyster juice.