Leek soup

Feeling terribly lazy and overfull from an indulgent weekend, during which I hosted a mini rebellion and declared a temporary vegetable hiatus. Pork buns and Hakata ramen from Ippudo, 짜장면 and 짬뽕 and fried dumplings at Dong Chun Hong, hot coconut bubble tea at Saints Alp...

There were a few moments when I thought I might pop from overeating.

So when I floated back to earth from my food-induced haze, the only thing that really appealed to me was simple fare. Like, really simple. I made leek soup. I forget who taught me this recipe, but I remember them telling me they read it in a book. I think you're supposed to eat this soup for an entire weekend to detox, but that obviously wasn't happening. Oh well! It's quite tasty though.

Simple Leek Soup
1. Cut off dark green leek tops and roots. Strip off outer layer. You should be left with only the white and very light green parts. You can keep the dark green tops for soup stock.
2. Cut leeks in half lengthwise (split it down the middle hot dog bun style).
3. Rinse leeks very thoroughly under cold running water, fanning out the leaves on each side to remove all the dirt. Not sure how to describe this, but it's almost like flipping through the pages of a book under running water.
4. Drop leek halves in a pot of water.
5. Bring the water to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.
6. Simmer for 20 minutes or so, until leeks become tender and slightly transparent.
7. Separate the leeks from the soup.
8. Drink the soup as is or season with salt and pepper to taste.
9. Drizzle leeks with olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

I also cooked my eggplants, but I haven't had the chance to eat them yet, since I forgot to take them with me to work yesterday. I'll probably have them for dinner today. I cooked them the same way as I cooked the chard (minus the blanching part), meaning I finally managed to use up all my thai basil. Success! We'll see if it tastes good later today... It smelled good though, so I have high hopes.

UPDATE: The eggplant is delicious! Japanese eggplant has a thinner skin and the texture is much more delicate than the normal American varieties. Eggplant has been called bland, tends to absorb oil, and can degenerate into a slimy mess, but I think I managed to avoid most of the pitfalls. I circumvented the blandness by using liberal quantities of garlic and thai basil. And I only used a tablespoon of olive oil (max). All you really need is to infuse the garlic flavor into the oil so that the eggplant gets coated with plenty of flavor while it's cooking. It's a deceptive vegetable, this eggplant, looking dry and sad in the pan, almost begging for more oil. But don't be fooled! Just keep stirring and flipping pieces over and soon enough, the eggplant will become tasty and tender.