Leek Potato Salad Perfect for Spring

Stuffed Leeks with Leek Potato Salad

The theme for Recipe Redux for April is "the first shoots of Spring." At this tme of year, you're seeing leeks, scallions, garlic scapes, pea shoots, ramps, rhubarb, and asparagus in farmer's markets and some grocery stores. This theme is courtesy of Katie@HealthyBites.

fresh leeks

I decided I wanted to do something with fresh leeks. Of course, there is always potato leek soup -- one of my favorites, but I wanted to do something a little different. Instead of a hot soup, I wanted something cold and refreshing that contained potatoes and leeks. So, I came up with a potato salad that has steamed leeks in it and can be served in leek "boats" for a more impressive presentation if desired.

Here is the complete recipe.

Stuffed Leeks with Leek Potato Salad

Ingredients:
6 medium leeks, well washed, root end sliced off
2 cups cooked potatoes, peeled (such as gold, red, or russet)
1 hard cooked egg
1/4 cup reduced fat mayonnaise made with olive oil
2 Tbsp plain nonfat Greek-style yogurt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper, or to taste
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley

 Directions:

Clean leeks in warm water to remove any soil. Cut a 3-inch piece starting from the white end of each leek. The remaining leek greens can be used for broth or another use. Cut each 3-inch leek piece in half lengthwise.  You should have 12 pieces total. Fill a large steaming vessel with one-inch of water and bring to a boil. Place leek halves cut-side-down in a single layer in the steamer basket of the steaming vessel. Place over boiling water, cover and steam for 10 minutes. With tongs, lift cooked leeks from steamer and place in single layer on plate. Cover and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes.

When leeks have cooled, carefully removed the outermost  two layers from each leek half. You should end up with 24 leek "boats." The inside layers of each steamed leek piece will be added to the potato salad below. Do not discard.

For potato salad, combine 1 cup of chopped steamed leeks  (the innermost leaves that were not used as a boat in the last step above) with cooked potatoes, egg, mayonnaise, yogurt and pepper. Mix well. Place a generous tablespoon of the potato salad in each leek boat. Sprinkle with parsley.

Makes 24 leek boats (or 6 servings of four each).

Nutrition Information per Serving (4 leek boats):

134 calories, 4 g total fat, 0 g saturated fat, 32 mg cholesterol, 12g dietary fiber, 4 g protein, and 346 mg sodium. One serving of this low cost recipe provides an excellent source of vitamins A, C, and K.

Cost per Serving: $0.92

Pricing Note: all ingredients were at “regular” prices.

Tray of stuffed leeks with leek potato salad

Click here to download and print a copy of this Stuffed Leeks with Leek Potato Salad recipe.

Be sure to check out these other great springtime recipes from other Receipe Reduxers.