A sauce for pasta: leeks with shrimp (or scallops. Or crab. Or... snails...)

It does feel as if "fall has fallen." Labor Day has come and gone, and it was a difficult one for Annalena. For the first time in my life, I did in fact feel as if summer were over. Of course, it is not, neither calendrically, nor via equinox, nor via any of Annalena's tried and true measures (can I get tomatoes? Peaches? Raspberries?). BUT... for reasons far too complex to go into on a site ostensibly dedicated to cooking, Annalena just, well, FELL . The feeling was more like the bleekest of winters than autumn. But she's clawing her way out of it.
Perhaps reflective of the feelings has been my reliance on my secondary fat this week: BUTTER. Now, I love butter. I love butter more than just about anything. In fact, I had it on my sandwich today (white truffle butter with steak. It was, if I do say so myself, a masterpiece). But if you read through main courses, my main cooking fat, as a good southern Italian, is olive oil. As I look at what we have eaten this week, however, butter predominates.

As it does in this dish. It involves one of the most underrated and underused vegetables in the floral kingdom: leeks. I ADORE leeks. I use them on pizza. I poach them for salads with gribiche sauce (look it up. I shall not give the recipe here). I cream them. I use them in soup. And in the recipe which follows.

I am told that Italians love leaks . I consistently mix up the word for them ("porri") with the word for cream ("panna"), for reasons that remain obscure. That seems to be the overarching principle this week: obscurity and confusion. But again, another digression. AS I say, I am TOLD that Italians love leeks. I can't seem to find a body of Italian recipes using them, however, so I stick to what I know.

I believe that I probably had this recipe somewhere along the line. It doesn't have my "stamp" on it, but it IS good. And it is easy and fast. And it will give you a chance to try a vegetable that I really do want you to know better. Think sweet, creamy tasting onions, and you have some idea.

First, to the leeks. If you buy them from the supermarket, you will find specimens that are large enough to beat someone to death with. But you CAN use them in this recipe. If you are fortunate enough to have a friend who has a 60 foot row of them at his house, or you have a farmers market, you can find smaller ones. If you have killer leeks, use three. If you have smaller ones, use six. Cut away dark green portions. You can use the light ones.

Now, do something very important. Make a vertical cut in the leek and pull the leaves apart a bit, to see if they are dirty. They could very well be, and the best sauce in the world will be undermined if there is dirt in it. If the leeks are dirty, then pull the leaves apart a bit, and wash them. Once you have done that (if you need to), then either slice them into coin shapes (this is good with the smaller ones), or cut the leeks into sections, and then cut "batons" (better with the killer leeks). You will also need 3 tablespoons of butter, and 2 of olive oil (must stay true to tradition here), and a pound of a quick cooking shellfish. I made it with shrimp - wonderful rock shrimp from Florida, but I can't imagine that this wouldn't work with scallops, or crab ... or snails. Last night, watching one of my favorite shows - "Top Chef," the competition involved cooking snails. Annalena's gastric juices immediately began flowing. But alas, one needs fellow "snail o philes" for this, so best forget it for a while.

So, melt the butter together with the olive oil. When it has softened, add the leeks. Saute' them at a gentle heat. You don't want to brown them, and if you keep the heat low, the large amount of fat will help prevent that. You will notice the leeks soften, and almost come to a creamy consistency. When you have that, toss in your shellfish. You won't need more than two minutes or so for the fish to cook through, and even if it doesn't, stop after two minutes because the residual heat from the rest of the dish will cook them. Taste the dish. You will probably need a bit of salt.

Whenever I make a butter based sauce for pasta, I hear my head saying "FRESH NOT DRIED" This is a personal thing. If you only have dried, use dried. You'll need a pound of pasta, either way. Cook it to taste, and then drain it. Toss the shellfish/leek sauce in, combine them well, and serve it forth.

I make this with fresh spinach pasta. The dark green, the pink and the white combine to make a very lovely , very sweet tasting dish. To, ahem "compensate" for the butter, I serve a green vegetable with garlic and olive oil, and perhaps some hot pepper. Tonight, it shall be mustard greens, an overlooked vegetable as well.

I promise to return tomorrow, with another cholesterol laden dish, as Annalena produces her version of chicken piccata.