Leek & Potato Velouté
Keith created this dish for America's Culinary Cup Season 1. Built around the leek as one of the farm's most sustainable ingredients, his velouté drew warm praise for its velvet-smooth, lump-free consistency — Padma Lakshmi called it a beautiful example of the style. This Fix-It reconstruction keeps that praised texture untouched while bringing the leek forward with a longer, slower sweat and lightening the oils and cream so the title ingredient leads and the plate reads clean rather than slick.
- Time: 70 min
Source: Relaxed Recipes
Ingredients
- FOR THE VELOUTÉ
- Leeks, white and pale green only — 1⅓ lb / 600 g
- Yukon Gold potato, peeled, skins reserved — 10 oz / 300 g
- Unsalted butter — 2 tbsp / 30 g
- Fine sea salt — 1 tsp / 6 g
- Light vegetable or chicken stock — 3½ cups / 830 ml
- Heavy cream — 3 tbsp / 45 ml
- White pepper — ¼ tsp / 0.5 g
- White-wine vinegar, to finish — 1 tsp / 5 ml
- FOR THE CHIVE OIL
- Fresh chives, plus reserved leek greens — 1 oz / 30 g
- Neutral oil — ⅓ cup / 80 ml
- Fine salt — a pinch
- TO FINISH
- Reserved potato skins
- Neutral oil, for crisping — 2 tsp / 10 ml
- White truffle oil — ¼ tsp / 1 ml
- Flaky salt and snipped chives — to taste
- EQUIPMENT
- Heavy-based saucepan or small stockpot
- High-speed blender
- Fine-mesh sieve or chinois
- Small saucepan and fine strainer
- Squeeze bottle or small spoon
- Small frying pan or air-fryer