Serge the leek: the fabulous story of a local leek

Serge is our leek friend who loves to share his passion for good food. You’ve come to know him through his recipe cookbook (in French) and his recent posts on our blog. This traveller at heart loves to eat, test new recipes, or create recipes with what he has in the fridge. But who is he really? Find out in this exclusive interview 😉

Can you briefly describe yourself?

I come from a large family of leeks from a field in Sainte-Brigitte-des-Saults. If you’re passing through, check out the Les Cultures de chez nous fields; I was born in the 12th row, the 4th leek of my lineage.

When it comes to food, I make a point of trying everything. I often buy an unfamiliar vegetable at the grocery store and then find recipes for cooking it. I also love travelling, discovering new cultures and surfing. You should see me with my green leaves in the waves 🏄 😂.

How did you learn to cook?

I learned to cook by helping my parents prepare meals. When I was very young, I was a great help to my father when he was making his meat pies and tarts!

I also learned a lot about cooking by listening to many cooking shows. I’ve always been curious about the ingredients you can mix together to make good food.

What dish reminds you of your childhood?

Now that’s a tricky question! I mean, it’s hard to name just one dish 😉. I can think of 3:

The economical dish

In the fall and sometimes during the winter, my parents would prepare the famous “economy dish.” In an ovenproof dish, they mixed sliced carrots, turnips and potatoes, ground meat cooked in the pan and tomato sauce. All this in the oven long enough for the carrots and potatoes to be tender. It brings back so many delicious memories! It's a simple dish, but it's so comforting!

The poutine

An unmissable meal! When I was still a little leek, my father always came home from work on Thursdays with a bag of cheese curds. I looked forward to it so much! I used to love poutine on Thursday nights 🙂.

We always added diced vegetables to our poutine in our house and sautéed them in the pan. Most of the time, it was carrots, leeks and even celery. To this day, I regularly eat homemade poutine with vegetables and beans!

Shepherd’s pie

Vegetables have always been a big part of my diet. The traditional steak + corn + potatoes was no exception. Every shepherd’s pie had to contain its share of diced vegetables. Come to think of it, shepherd’s pie had the same vegetables as poutine 😂.

I don’t know about you, but my father always sprinkled paprika over the mashed potatoes and added a few pieces of butter. I can confirm that it gave a great taste and a crunchy top!

What are you unable to do without in the kitchen?

Music! You were expecting a utensil or ingredient like my homemade potato spice mix, weren’t you? It’s hard to live without my spice mix, but even harder to live without music. I listen to it every day. I have a weakness for reggae. It puts the house in a relaxed mood. Cooking in good company, listening to reggae, with a glass of red or white wine (I like both 🍷!), it’s the perfect trio!

What’s your favourite food?

I couldn’t live without cheese. I love grilled cheese (in French) and pizza. I almost always grate my pasta or sprinkle Parmesan over it.

Once, I had some leftover basmati rice in the fridge. I made little balls of it with cheese inside. All cooked with butter in a frying pan 🤤. They made excellent croquettes in no time!

What’s your best meal ever?

I loved Italian food, pastitsio and spanakopita so much on my trip to Greece that I’m having trouble giving you just one meal. Every time I think back on a trip I’ve taken, I remember the dishes I ate, making me want to fly to every country to eat locally again! Since I’m a cheese freak, perhaps my best meal ever was the feta saganaki I ate in Greece. But which version? The savoury version with a drizzle of lemon juice or the sweet version with sesame seeds and honey 🤔?

What was your most memorable trip?

Definitely my trip to Morocco (in French) for the mint tea, the flavours, the colours, the tagine eaten in the middle of the desert, the culture and the change of scenery!

For a perfect day, what would be your 3 dream dishes?

For brunch, crêpes stuffed with ham and asparagus. A pure delight! To make the béchamel sauce, I fry a little leek in butter before adding the flour. When the sauce is hot, I add grated cheese. It makes the sauce even creamier!

For lunch, a tofu or TVP-based hot dog like I featured in my article of 5 vegan hot dog recipes to try.

For dinner, pasta with mushrooms or any of the 30 best pasta recipes found in the Crazy Leeks article!

Do I also get cheesecake for dessert 😉?

Follow Serge, the foodie blogger

We hope you enjoyed this little incursion into the life of our friend Serge! You can continue to follow his culinary adventures in future blog posts and occasionally on the Crazy Leeks Facebook page or on Instagram!

In the meantime, we invite you to review his recipe cookbook (in French), his top 10 foodies and producers to follow on the Web (in French) or try one of his 14 favourite Quebec restaurants.