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Flemish Leeks
Rub 1/2 pound of fresh butter into 1 pound of flour; add 1/2 teaspoonful of salt, the yolks of 2 eggs, and 3/4 pint of water. Mix thoroughly. Divide this pastry into four parts, and roll these out into rounds about six inches in diameter. Have ready 1 dozen leeks prepared as follows: Wash them in two or three waters, trim off the root and the outer leaves, strew 1 tablespoonful of salt, 1 teaspoonful of pepper, and 1/2 grated nutmeg over them, and pour over them 1/2 pint of cream. Let them soak for half an hour. Put the rounds of pastry on a baking-dish; fill each one with the leeks, draw up the sides to the centre, fasten them securely together, and bake in a good oven. Time to bake, half an hour.
A rich short pastry folded around raw leeks in seasoned cream — essentially four large hand pies. The original assumes a cook who knows how far to trim a leek and how hot a "good oven" runs.
- The hinge: cut the leeks downA dozen whole leeks will not cook through in half an hour inside pastry, and they will not fit four six-inch rounds. Use the white and pale green only, split lengthwise and sliced, or blanch the trimmed whites two or three minutes before they go in.
- "A good oven"Probably somewhere in the region of 400-425F, though the book gives no temperatures and the term was never precise. The pastry is half butter to flour and wants a hot start to set before the fat runs; half an hour at that heat is a reasonable guess for parcels this size.
- Pastry proportions1 lb flour is roughly 3 1/2 to 4 cups; 1/2 lb butter is two sticks. The 3/4 pint of water is 1 1/2 cups by the US pint, nearer 1 3/4 if the book means an imperial one — either way generous for modern flour, so add it by degrees and stop when the dough coheres, or the parcels will be tough.
- SaltA tablespoonful of salt over the leeks plus a half teaspoon in the pastry is heavy by current taste. A teaspoon over the leeks is nearer the mark.
- Grated nutmegHalf a whole nutmeg grated is about a teaspoon and a half — assertive, but nutmeg with leeks and cream is the point of the dish rather than an accent. Grate it fresh; pre-ground has little left.
- The cream soakHalf a pint is one cup, a little more if the book means an imperial pint. Drain most of it off before filling, keeping the leeks moist rather than swimming, or the liquid will burst the seam and flood the tray.
- Sealing and panDraw the pastry up in four or five pleats and pinch hard; an egg-wash on the joins helps them hold. Bake on a rimmed sheet lined with parchment, since some butter and cream will escape.
- YieldFour parcels, each a substantial single serving or half of a shared plate with a salad.