Leeks

Beyond a supporting role

By Margarett Waterbury

April 23, 2013

I’ve always thought it was fitting that leeks were the national symbol of Wales — not because they share any particular inherent qualities, but because both have a tendency to be overshadowed by their showier, more attention-grabbing companions.

It’s not that leeks are forgettable, exactly. Most people recognize them, and there’s something striking about their sturdy, unglamorous shape. It’s just that they’re often overlooked — relegated to the bottom shelf in the produce section, chopped and cooked beyond recognition into soups and sauces, or puréed alongside potatoes, forever playing a supporting role.

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Escarole

An ideal beginner’s chicory

By Margarett Waterbury

January 2, 2013

I recently stumbled across a magazine article about dieting that asked, “What do you do when you’re so tired of salad you simply can’t eat any more vegetables?”

The question struck me as odd, because I’ve never been so tired of salad that I couldn’t eat any more vegetables. There are so many delicious combinations, so many wonderful varietals, and such a range of diverse tastes from season to season. I simply cannot fathom ever getting truly sick of them.

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Fennel

A wispy, aristocratic vegetable

By Margarett Waterbury

November 27, 2012

The first time I ever tasted raw fennel was, appropriately enough, in Florence, Italy, the namesake city of the plant’s most well-known varietal.

Down the street from my school was a bar that served enormous lunch salads in deep white bowls: bitter greens blanketed in a thick layer of olives, oil-cured tuna, cubes of provolone, tomatoes, and thin green slices of what I thought at the time was the strangest-tasting celery I had ever had.

I ate them near-daily. Only later did I realize those crisp crescents weren’t celery at all, and that there was more to fennel than those little licorice-flavored seeds my grandmother put in her biscotti.

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