This melt-in-the-mouth leek dish is a favorite in France in the cooler months, although I’ve never seen it served anywhere else. And the beauty of the dish is that it is not only supremely comforting but also extremely quick and easy to make. The leeks are tenderly sautéd in butter, then cream is added, et voilà. The dish is most commonly served alongside fish, but also marries well with sea scallops, roast chicken or roasted veggies.
Fondue de poireaux / Leek fondue
But why is it called a fondue? That word is generally associated with cheese, as in fondue savoyarde (cheese fondue). The reason is simple. The term derives from the word fondre (to melt) — and in cheese fondue, originally a Swiss dish, the cheese is melted.
Then beef fondue (fondue bouguignonne) came along, introduced by an enterprising Swiss chef in New York. This is a bit of an aberration because nothing is melted in that dish, but since bits of beef are dipped into hot oil in a communal pot, mimicking the bread dipped in melted cheese in the original fondue, the term has stuck. The same chef then introduced fondue au chocolat, in which fresh fruit is dipped into melted chocolate.
And what about fondue of leeks? I believe the term is attached to the venerable veggie because the chopped leeks are ‘melted’ to tenderness in butter, and the addition of cream makes the dish all the more meltingly delicious (fondant). Along the same lines, one of the most popular desserts in Paris is called fondant au chocolat. It’s a rich chocolate cake that is removed from the oven before the center has set, leaving the heart fondant (melted).
My mind has been very much occupied with chocolate cake recently due to the fact that a close friend, Nicole, celebrated her 80th birthday this past Sunday. I’ve traditionally made her birthday cakes over the years, but when she told me she’d invited 50 people I balked. She then got out the big guns, saying she absolutely had to have ‘le gâteau de Meg,’ so I agreed. A few days later, her daughter informed me that the guest list had risen to 60. Then Nicole informed me that she’d invited … an 11-member family klezmer orchestra! We were up to 71. And then she invited more people. I needed to make cake for 80.
What to do, what to do? I figured I could make a three-tiered cake for about half the guests, with a large sheet cake for the others. The problem was that when my stove broke down some years back and a new one was delivered, the workmen took away the old stove — and I forgot to remove my sheet pans, which were in its drawer. About an hour after they left, I phoned them in a panic asking whether I could get my cake pans back. ‘Mais non, madame! Your stove is already being taken apart at the recycling center’ they replied.
To make a long story short, I went out and bought a new sheet pan at Dehillerin, the best cookware store in Paris (and maybe the world). This shop has stood the test of time, having recently celebrated its 200th anniversary, and indeed it’s where I bought my original sheet pans 50 years ago. So then I came home and made the cakes — which turned out fine. And it was a great party! (For the cake recipe, click here.)
Happy cooking.
