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This is a recipe I developed a few months ago after realizing that I hadn't been cooking with leeks nearly enough. It's a surprisingly light-tasting stew that's quite filling and inexpensive. Finishing with epazote kicks up the complexity and is the real trick to this dish. Ingredients 6 large or 12 smaller leeks (I had a mix of both sizes) 38 oz. canned garbanzos (1 large can, 1 small). Can use dried if you prefer 1/4-1/3 lb pancetta, cubed 2 lb waxy potatoes (I used fingerlings) 2 lemons 2 bunches epazote 1.5 quarts chicken stock (I used Better Than Bullion) black pepper salt  First, dice your pancetta into lardons, and render them in your pot over medium-low heat with a bit of olive oil to get them started. I might have liked to use a little bit more than this, but it's what I had.  While that's going, prep your leeks. Start by removing the green tops and most of the roots (but leave the end cap thing). Wash off the obvious dirt, then slice them almost to the end cap. One slice is good for thin leeks, whereas for the thick ones you should make two perpendicular cuts. Wash out the insides of any remaining dirt this way. Also wash your lemons.     Julienne your leeks into pieces that are 2 or 3 inches long. Also peel your lemons (avoid as much pith as possible) and julienne the peels.  At this point your pancetta should almost be done. Once it's well-rendered, remove it from the pot and reserve. Add your leeks and lemon, as well as a hearty pinch of salt. Cook them down over medium-high until they're translucent and fragrant. A good indicator of doneness is when they start to stick to the bottom of the pan (since that means they've cooked off most of their water). Towards the end of this process I added a tsp or so of cracked black pepper. While this is going, wash your potatoes and chop them into roughly bite-sized pieces. Also open your cans of garbanzos and drain them of most of the water.     Add the garbanzos to the leeks and stir to combine. I find this stew works best when it's about equal parts leeks and garbanzos. Add the pancetta back in along with the potatoes, and cover with stock. This took about 1.5 qt of water, to which I added just shy of 2 tbsp of Better Than Boullion chicken stock. You just want to cover with water, since it should be a relatively thick stew. Bring to boil, then reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes or so, or however long it takes the potatoes to reach fork-tender. Once that's all ready, add in the juice of one lemon, and then season to taste (if you used regular broth, rather than a low-sodium variety, it should be nearly seasoned already). Wash the epazote, then remove the leaves and roughly chiffonade. Add into the stew and simmer another two minutes.     Like most stews, this gets better after a day in the fridge. The leeks and potatoes can make it a bit sweet, but the lemon peel and juice help mitigate that, and the epazote really brings it together. If you can't find epazote you can try a mix of sage and basil, maybe with a bit of spinach, but it's worth seeking out the real thing. 
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Aug 7, 2017 01:30
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| # ? May 3, 2024 15:04 |
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looks good, and I like the use of epazote. is this based on any sort of traditional recipe? it looks a little like a weird pozole
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Aug 7, 2017 06:55
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It's not modeled on anything on particular, but it's sort of a by-the-numbers bean stew, with fragrant meat -> alliums -> beans -> stock and simmer. I'd never really used garbanzos, and I like hearty beans. The lemon peel was mostly to keep the leeks from getting too sweet. The epazote was a genuine moment of inspiration in the grocery store, and I really got lucky with it.
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Aug 7, 2017 07:20
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