In season: leeks

Leeks are the poster boy of Welsh vegetables. The Welsh seem to have taken pride in claiming them as their own. For food trivia fans and lovers of unnecessarily scientific sounding words, leeks come from the allium porrum family of veg and are distant relatives of onions and garlic. This means that cooking the three of them together is much like a family reunion – enjoyable, but just don’t add too much alcohol (a splash of white wine is enough!)

Our autumnal weather is the perfect reason to start cooking leeks. They form one half of the classic Leek and Potato soup and are the ultimate comfort food when thrown into a carbonara. In fact, leeks and bacon (or pancetta if you’re feeling snobbish) are the ultimate combination. Whether in a pasta dish, or mixed with some cheddar and crème fraîche to bake as a tart, the saltiness of the pork fat creates something beautiful with the mild, sweet leeks.

Leeks can perfect a comforting casserole while the nights draw shorter and budgets get tighter. Cook a big pot of veg, stock and a cheap cut of meat and you can get plenty of meals out of it – casserole and mash one night, jacket potato topping the next day. Any leftover stock can be used towards a soup for students who are partial to flask-sipping between lectures.

So there you have it. The humble leek should really be a fridge favourite. Let’s share it with the Welsh and make it the ultimate student vegetable.