Jackson Boxer’s poached leeks with pickled pear and hazelnuts. Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian. Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay. Food styling assistant: Eden Owen-Jones. View image in fullscreen Jackson Boxer’s poached leeks with pickled pear and hazelnuts. Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian. Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay. Food styling assistant: Eden Owen-Jones. Food Jackson Boxer’s vegan recipe for poached leeks with pickled pear and hazelnuts Poach your leeks to perfection, then pair with pickled pears and nutty miso
Prefer the Guardian on Google I have a great respect for the leek, which is possibly the most demanding vegetable in its need to be freshly cooked before consumption. A warm leek, fresh from the pot, is an ethereal, collapsing sigh of diaphanous veils, whereas cold it can all too easily become a slippery and almost slimy mess of hopelessness.
All the various elements can be made ahead of time except the leeks, which should be just warm from their poaching, and the dressing, which should be made at the last minute. Vegetable bouillon may seem a bit of a faff to make just to poach some leeks (if you prefer, simply cook them in two litres of seasoned water with a dash of white wine instead), but a good, light vegetable broth is a useful thing to have around, and a batch will keep happily in the fridge for three or four days. To toast nuts successfully, cook them on a tray in an even layer in a 170C (150C fan)/335F/gas 3½ oven for 15-20 minutes, which will toast them evenly to the core without scorching.
Prep 25 min Soak and chill Overnight Cook 1 hr, plus cooling Serves 4
For the hazelnut miso 250g hazelnuts 40g white miso paste 25 ml olive oil 5g flaky sea salt (about 1 tsp)
For the vegetable bouillon (optional; see recipe introduction) 1 medium carrot , peeled and quartered 1 medium onion , peeled and quartered 1 medium shallot , peeled and left whole 2 garlic cloves , peeled 4 leek tops (from trimming the leeks below) 1 bay leaf 5 thyme sprigs 2 parsley sprigs 1 star anise 150 ml white wine 2 litres filtered water 40g flaky sea salt
For the pickled pears 2 conference pears 150 ml white-wine vinegar 50g sugar
For the leeks 4 leeks , trimmed, roots removed and thoroughly cleaned, then cut in half across the middle 2 litres vegetable boui llon (see above and method) Minced chives and chopped chervil , to finish (optional)
For the dressing 200g pear pickling liquor (see above and method) 100 ml extra-virgin olive oil 5g flaky sea salt (about 1 tsp) 2g ground black pepper (about ½ tsp) 50g minced shallot 10g minced garlic 100g toasted hazelnuts , chopped
The day before, put the nuts in a container or bowl, add a litre of water and leave overnight to soften. Next day, strain the nuts, reserving the soaking liquid.
Put all the bouillon ingredients in a large pot (again, you can do this a day before), bring to a low simmer and cook gently on a medium heat for 25 minutes. Take off the heat, leave to rest and cool for four hours, then strain.
Peel, quarter and core the pears, then cut each quarter in half lengthways and put in a container, for which you have a lid. Put the vinegar, sugar and 75ml water in a saucepan, bring to a simmer, then pour the pickling liquor over the pears, cover and chill for 12 hours.
Put the drained nuts, miso, olive oil and salt in a food processor, dribble in just enough of the soaking liquid to lubricate, then blitz to a smooth, rich p…