IngredientsVegetables
Lauchleek
Allium ampeloprasum var. porrum, a relative of the onion but with no bulb and none of the bite. It gives a calm, faintly sweet onion note.
It belongs in Suppengrün, the German soup bundle, together with carrot, celeriac and parsley. Also in potato soup, in stews and in cheese and leek soup. The white and pale green go into the dish, the dark green into the stock.
In Mexikoin Mexico
It is sold as poro, in every market and supermarket. Ask for poro, not cebolla de cambray and not cebollín.
Cebolla de cambray is a young onion with a small round bulb; cebollín is thin as grass. Both are sharper, thinner in flavour, and neither carries a soup.
Kaufenbuying
Firm stalks with the longest possible white shaft and fresh leaves, not limp ones.
The root end should be dry and the outer layer tight. Bruised stalks turn slimy inside.
Vorsichtwatch out
Soil is heaped around the plant as it grows, so grit sits deep between the leaves. You cannot see it from outside.
Halve it lengthways, bend the layers apart under running water and rinse them. Rinse only the outside and you will find the sand later, between your teeth.