i love to ask my mama friends (not the super-bouldery, roast their own kale chips and make their own crackers out of soybeans and flax-paste mamas, but the ones who eat approachable things i can identify) what their easy “go-to” dinners are. i mean REALLY easy, like five or so ingredients and twenty minutes preparation for those nights when i am driving the soccer carpool and practice is late or i just feel like doing anything other than spending a lot of time cooking. i think every mama needs some cheats and i get tired of mine. so that is how i came to learn about this ham and leek dish from my girlfriend anna, over ten years ago when we were living in amsterdam and coping with toddlers.
my sweet baby group in amsterdam… marla (anna’s daughter) is far right and theo is third from the right
anna sautes the “spek” or pancetta in a tablespoon or so of butter until it is browned and cooked through. while it is cooking, she generously peppers it. in the netherlands, you can always find little packages of raw, diced pancetta at the albert heijn market, but i can never find it prepped that way here, even at the whole foods, so i have taken to using sliced ham and cutting it into squares. she then adds about 2 cups of cream and the sliced leeks to the pan (a DEEP one is best so it doesn’t splatter too much!) she cooks the leeks until they are softened and serves the ham/leek/cream over penne with parm on top. it is DELICIOUS this way.
a few years ago, i had an extra pie crust so i just put the ham/leek mixture into the pie pan and added the eggs and milk and sprinkled parmesan over the top before baking it. it is also delicious as a quiche. of course, this is a dinner i can only serve to my kids because there is at least one thing most of my boulder friends won’t eat… either the cream or the cheese or the ham or the gluteny crust… and i DO have bouldery friends here… i have to or i wouldn’t have any friends at all. and i just found out i have a VEGAN friend here. she doesn’t look like a vegan…she wears regular clothes (no tie dyed muu muus or prayer beads and i’ve never seen her wave around a burning stick of patchouli - but maybe she only does that when she’s alone?) i recently had a glass of wine with her and she served “cheese” that tasted like boursin, but it turns out it was made from cashews! it was super yummy… so while i could never be a vegan myself, i CAN befriend them and taste their food.
HAM AND LEEK YUMMINESS
1 package sliced ham or raw, diced pancetta
1-2 T butter
2-3 leeks sliced into half circles about a 1/4” wide
you have to REALLY wash the leeks… it’s amazing how deep the dirt gets into them!
1 pint of cream
pepper to taste
1-2 C grated or thinly sliced parmesan cheese
for pasta:
1/2 lb of penne, cooked and drained
for quiches (makes 2):
2 pie crusts
6 eggs
1 1/2 C milk
melt butter in a DEEP pan (sometimes i use a soup pot so i don’t have to clean up splatter.) saute ham until browned and cooked through. sprinkle generously with pepper, or to taste. slowly add cream and sliced leeks. cook, stirring frequently, until leeks are softened (about 5 minutes.)
for pasta:
cook and drain pasta and return to pot. add ham/leek mixture and stir well. serve with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.
for quiches:
heat oven to 350 degrees. place uncooked crusts into 2 pie pans. divide ham/leek mixture and scoop onto the crusts. blend eggs and milk and then pour half into each pie pan. generously sprinkle each quiche with parmesan. bake for about 45 minutes until the tops are browned. let cool and set about 10 minutes before serving.
