Leeks, Thyme and Garlic

Leeks are criminally underrated. This recipe is a nice celebration of them, pairing them with lots of thyme and garlic. Don’t be tempted to rush the roasting, this is where they will transform into the star of the dish.

Serves 4

Ingredients:
3 medium sized leeks
3 cloves of garlic
2 tsp fresh thyme (around 6 sprigs)
30g butter
400g spaghetti
2 eggs
50g parmesan, finely grated. Plus a little extra for serving
Oil for roasting
Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200°C

2. Chop leeks into 2cm rounds, strip the thyme leaves from their stems and lightly crush the garlic cloves with the back of your knife - leaving them in their skins.

3. In a roasting tray, add the leeks, thyme and garlic. Coat them in 3 tbsp of oil and dot them with the butter. Season well and cover tightly with foil.

4. The leeks will need to bake in the oven for 50 minutes, keep them covered the whole way through.

5. Remove the leeks after the 50 minutes and set aside. Begin to cook your spaghetti. Cook in a large pan of salted boiling water for 8-10 minutes.

6. Whilst your spaghetti is boiling, remove the skin from the roasted garlic cloves and crush both the garlic and leeks slightly with a fork. They should both be soft and the garlic creamy.

7. In a bowl, whisk the eggs and combine with the parmesan, season generously with black pepper.

8. Drain the spaghetti once it’s done but reserve a mugful of the pasta water - this is super important!!

9. Add the drained pasta and egg mixture to a large cold frying pan (the cold pan will stop the egg from scrambling when it goes in) and combine. Turn on the heat and keep it very low. Add the pasta water a little at a time to loosen the sauce, you might not need all of it. Once it’s looking glossy and delicious, stir in you leeks and give it a final season.

10. Serve with a little (or a lot of) parmesan on top.