This Sous Vide leek recipe is a great way to cook leeks to absolute perfection. Cooking leeks sous vide ensure that they’re not just perfectly cooked but as they’re not cooked in water, you get 100% leek flavour.
Cooking the leeks in plenty of olive oil, slowly for 1h gives them a fantastic confit tenderness. We pair our sous vide leeks with a classic French soubise sauce, chive oil and finish them with aged comté cheese and crispy onions. Read on to find out how to make this easy yet refined vegetarian dish!
The Ultimate Way to Cook Leeks
Sous vide is a fantastic way of cooking food, not only is it fool proof, you’re also left with superior tasting food. It’s a great way to cook leeks which can be tricky to cook perfectly whilst preserving their colour and shape.
I cook the leeks sous vide at 84c/183f for 1 hour, resulting in perfectly cooked leek whites. At such high temperatures it’s best to use proper vacuum sealed bags rather than sandwich/zip-lock bags.
Our sous vide, confit leeks are then served with an incredibly easy Soubise sauce which is a classic, French onion sauce made with cream. This was inspired by the guys in the London restaurant Fallow who use onion offcuts to smoke their sauce.
I finish the confit leeks by blowtorching them to get a great finish and dress it with grated aged comté cheese, crispy onions, fresh chives. Finally I finish the plate off with a really vibrant chive oil. You can find recipes for the Soubise sauce and chive oil below:
What You’ll Need
To make Sous Vide leeks, you’ll need:
Leeks: I use organic leeks from my local greengrocers in Paris. You can use any leeks that you find. To cook them sous vide, I remove the top green parts (you can keep these for stock) and only use the white stem.
Olive Oil: To create a ‘confit’ effect whilst cooking the leeks I add a good quantity of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. It won’t change the effect that much but it will add plenty of favour.
Sous Vide Setup: I use an Anova Immersion Circulator placed into a tub of water. I also use a Vacuum Chamber sealer but you can use double sandwich bags instead.
Blowtorch: Finishing the sous vide leeks with a blowtorch adds a nice smokey note imparts even more flavour into the dish. This is completely optional however!
Ingredients
Makes enough for 2 main portions:
- 2 large leeks (bottoms and green tops removed), white parts only cut into 3 inches / 7 cm sections
- 50ml extra virgin olive oil
- Soubise sauce, as required
- Chive oil, as required
- Grated aged Comté cheese, as required
- Fresh finely minced chives, as required
- Crisy onions, as required
How to Make Sous Vide Leeks
- Preheat a sous vide water bath with a circulator to 84c/183f.
- Whilst the water is heating prepare the leeks. Trim the bottom ends off and the green tops (you can keep these for vegetable stock/broth). Slice the white hearts into 3 inches / 7 cm sections. Rinse them thoroughly in cold water whilst pressing the sides to ensure the interiors are washed out.
- Once washed, pat the leek sections dry. Season with salt and pepper and place into a vacuum bag. Add the olive oil and seal.
- Place into the water bath and cook for 1 hour. Remove and torch with a blowtorch (optional).
- Serve onto the Soubise sauce and dress with grated comté cheese, crispy onions and freshly minced chives. Finish the dish with a few drops of chive oil.
What Can I Serve it With?
You can serve the sous vide leeks, like I did, with Soubise sauce and a garnish of comté cheese, chives and crispy onions for an elegant main dish. Alternatively you can serve them with a warm French vinaigrette to make a classic French starter.
