We have had a couple weeks of unusually cold weather in fact we had a foot of snow last week after all the snow melted the month before and the wild leeks are not maturing as fast as they normally do. Every day on my way home I stop at a hardwood bush just around the corner from my home and pick some wild leek leaves, I love fresh wild leek leaves. My wife finds them a little hot raw so I cook them for her.

You can prepare Wild Leeks many ways, as a salad, steamed, boiled, fried, or even pickled, if you freeze them for later use they should be cooked first. Here I am going to fry the leeks, I fry with a bit of a twist in my technique.

Step 1: Picking and Preparing the Leeks

Since I don’t always have something with me to dig up the leeks I just pick the leaves this won't kill the bulb.

When I get the leek leaves home I washed them thoroughly in the kitchen sink.

After washing I dry the leaves on a paper towel and cut them up with a pair of scissors and they are ready to cook I just need to add the other ingredients.

Step 2: Adding the Other Ingredients

First I dice fresh mushrooms no use adding caned mushrooms to fresh leeks.

The next ingredient is fresh chives, I grow my chives in a box planter so I can take them with me if I move or to get them to start early in the spring.

I simply grab a bunch and cut them from the roots with a pair of scissors and wash them.

After washing I dry the chives and cut them up with a pair of scissors.

The last ingredient is a large diced onion.

Then I mix all the ingredients together in a large bowel. At this point if I want a salad I put some in a bowel adding diced tomatoes and diced zucchini then I sprinkle with oil and vinegar, however I am going to cook this for a side dish.

Step 3: Frying the Leeks

A safety note here, always cook with your pot handles turned into the stove. When I was a teenager my mother caught a pot handle on her sweater and spilled what she was cooking on her leg, she spent six months recovering from her burns.

I have a unique way of frying first I add butter to my frying pan then I add water to the pan filling it half way. Other than fish, eggs, and deep frying I fry everything this way, it ensures meat and vegetables are cooked through to the center before browning the outside. This is very important when frying a mixture of different things as some things cook faster than others.

I add the leeks and other vegetables to the frying pan and cover with a lid and cook on high.

The lid keeps the steam in the frying pan with the vegetables until they are cooked through.

When the leeks are cooked through I take the lid off the frying pan and boil off any excess water and lightly brown the leeks.

After browning I add butter and serve.

Step 4: Dinner Is Served

Yes we are having fish again tonight this is Blue Cod fried in my Spicy Fried Fish recipe with creamy chicken pasta and of course fried wild leeks. If you want my creamy chicken pasta recipe just cook pasta and add Campbells cream of chicken soup, don’t add water to the soup.

Don’t tell my wife I cheated on the pasta.

I made a seafood pasta on our first date, it consisted of a can of baby clams, a can of baby shrimp, a can of lobster, a can of crab meat, a package of egg noodles, and a can of cream of mushroom soup. To this day she doesn’t know how I make a white sauce for pasta, and that was over 30 years ago.