I DID say spring had sprung, didn't I? Oh well. Leek and garlic sauce

In the last post, I sang the praises of rhubarb, which I shall continue to do for a while . We are in that period of the year, however, where the spring goodies are simply not plentiful enough to push the winter goodies out of the way completely. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. As the constant reader knows, Annalena is very fond of working with what winter gives her. And if the winter gives her leeks, well, Annalena is "there."
This is a pasta sauce which, believe it or not, represents a REDUCTION of richness. As I was making it, I was tasting, and it is such a strong tasting sauce that as I looked ahead, I realized that it was going to be 'too much'. Now, coming from the pen of the writer who has said that "wretched excess is barely enough," that is saying something. But bear with me. If you make this - and I hope you will - you will see what I mean.

The ingredients are fairly simple. You need butter and olive oil. 2 tablespoons of the former, and one of the latter. You will also need LOTS of leeks - I would say that six of the monsters you can buy in the supermarket, or up to 12 of the normal sized ones you'll find at the farmers market. You really can't use too many leeks in this recipe. You also need a good dozen cloves of garlic. Use the plump ones. You'll get about six of those from every head of garlic, so do the math. In terms of liquids, you will need either 1.5 cups of chicken stock (or clear vegetable stock), or a cup of stock and half a cup of white wine. As I present this recipe, I will write it as if I were using the wine, but make the substitution. you're smart. You also need half a cup of heavy cream and, if you take this all the way, half a cup of grated pecorino romano cheese. Grate it yourself.

Now, the thing that will take the most time here, is cutting the leeks. Get rid of the dark green part, and then slice the remaining leeks into half moons. It's going to take a while, but it's all worth it. If they are dirty - and they probably will be - dump them in a big pot of water. Peel the garlic. Don't sit there and try to be clinical about this step - just smash em and pull off the skin, then cut the cloves in half.

Got everything together? Ok, let's cook. Get a wide skillet ready and put the fats in it. When the butter has melted, add the leeks, the garlic, a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper, and lower the heat. Stir this mess a bit, for about five minutes. Now add the half cup of wine, and raise the heat, until it evaporates. If you blink, you'll miss it. Add the rest of the liquid, and lower the heat.

My original recipe calls for putting a sheet of parchment paper on top of this and lowering the heat, and I did in fact do this, but I imagine if you have a tight fitting lid, you'll be fine. The heat should be low, and you'll want to come back and stir this, every five minutes or so, for about 40 minutes.

Taste as you go along and you'll realize how much sugar is in each of these "vegetables." This sauce is going to develop a very strong, sweet, carmelization typ e of flavor. You will not think there's garlic in it. I promise.

You can use this sauce as it is, and perhaps you should. I did then add the half cup of cream, and stirred it until the stuff thickened. Once I tasted it, putting in cheese was out of the question. Indeed, when I used this as a pasta sauce, I added water to thin it, and no one minded.

You will get enough sauce here to serve at least six people. I had doubled the recipe, served 8 folks, and had enough left over to serve 3 more people. The portion size of pasta may seem small at first: you want 3 ounces per person. BUT... given the flavor of the sauce, with or without the cream or cheese, it's very mouth filling and it is really a first course kind of thing.

The extra sauce, by the way, was smashing on some guinea hen meatballs that I made from some left over meat . I think it's probably great on green vegetables too.

So, want something a bit offbeat, that kind of straddles winter and spring? Here you go. And make it during the spring when you can get the baby leeks. I'm looking at modifying it with some fava beans. Sounds good to me.