As part of my series on cooking with scraps, I’ll show you how to create a delicious main dish meal using the tops of leeks—the dark green part that normally isn’t used in a recipe—to make Spaghetti with Leek Greens. This recipe will help you on your journey to creating a no-waste kitchen!
Affiliates note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. My content may contain affiliate links to products and services. If you click through and make a purchase, I’ll receive a small commission. It does not affect the price you pay.
Table of Contents
- Cooking with Leek Green Scraps
- Ingredients to Cook with Leek Greens
- How to Cook with Leek Greens
- Variations
- Recipe Tips
- Storing and Reheating
- More Cooking with Scraps
- Download Your Free 36-Page Pantry List
- The Modern Pioneer Cookbook
- Join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy
- Kitchen Academy Videos
- Spaghetti with Leek Greens Recipe Recipe
- Shop for items used in this blog post or video
Cooking with Leek Green Scraps
For an earlier family meal, I made a potato leek soup, but it just calls for the white part and light green part of the leek, so the dark green parts of the leek would normally go into the compost pile or trash. However, instead of wasting them, we’re going to use the leek green scraps to make a wonderful pasta dish.
Saving scraps helps you stretch your grocery budget and create a no-waste kitchen. You’ll be surprised at how many delicious and nutritious meals you can make from foods you would normally discard.
Ingredients to Cook with Leek Greens
Find the full printable recipe with ingredients below.
- Leek greens – Taken from three bunches of leaks where you’ve already used the white and light green part of the vegetable.
- Salt – I always prefer sea salt in my dishes.
- Butter – Melted to saute the leek greens.
- Olive oil – Also added to help saute your leek green scraps.
- Black pepper and Red Pepper flakes – Both add a little spice to your dish.
- Lemon – You’ll use both the zest and the juice in this recipe.
- Parmigiano-Reggiano – You can also use another hard cheese like Pecorino Romano.
- Spaghetti – Your pasta brings the whole dish together with your leek green scraps. I like to cook my pasta al dente.
How to Cook with Leek Greens
Find the full printable recipe with measurements below.
- Cook your spaghetti.
- Slice your leek greens thinly.
- Saute your leek greens with butter and olive oil.
- Add salt, black pepper, red pepper, and lemon zest and juice.
- Add cooked spaghetti and toss with sautéed leek greens.
- Stir in Parmigiano Reggiano and pasta water.
- Serve as is or with a bread accompaniment.
Variations
You can try this recipe with other vegetable scraps or pasta, but spaghetti works the best to blend in the long leek green strips.
You can save most vegetable scraps for making bone broth. However, note that vegetables with strong flavors, such as garlic or turnips, are not good candidates for making bone broth since they’ll overpower the taste of your bone broth.
Recipe Tips
If you’re not used to cooking pasta al dente, you’re in for a treat. Al dente means that you’ve cooked your spaghetti (or other pasta) to the point where there’s a slight bite and the pasta is not mushy. This usually means that we will be cooking our pasta for less time than indicated in the package directions.
Al dente pasta gives your dishes more substance and enables you to reheat your food (or keep it hot) without worrying about your pasta coming out mushy.
Storing and Reheating
You can keep leftovers for 3-4 days in the refrigerator and reheat in a frying pan.
More Cooking with Scraps
Cookbooks to Get You Started Cooking with Scraps
Learn how to cook with scraps that may have otherwise been thrown in the trash.
How to Quick Pickle Vegetable Scraps for a No Waste Kitchen
Clean out your crisper and make this treat with options for various tasty brines.
Download Your Free 36-Page Pantry List
For an extensive list of the traditional foods you can make and purchase to stock your pantry, be sure to download my free 36-page Traditional Foods Pantry List. This comprehensive eBook is full of links to recipe videos, helpful articles, and more!
And if you’re looking for a printed book full of my traditional foods recipes that shows you how to create a traditional foods kitchen, be sure to order your copy of my new bestselling book, The Modern Pioneer Cookbook.
Order YOUR COPY Now!
The Modern Pioneer Cookbook
Seasonal ingredients, traditional techniques, and nourishing recipes. Over 85 traditional, from-scratch recipes! Discover for yourself how you can use simple ingredients and traditional techniques to cook the modern pioneer way.
Join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy
Are you looking for more traditional foods videos? If so, I invite you to join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy. Members of this optional paid YouTube community get access to exclusive videos, live streams, and other members-only perks. Plus, your YouTube comments include a special members-only badge.
Kitchen Academy Videos
Does Eating Food in a Specific Order Fight Disease?
Research suggests that the order in which we eat our food may significantly impact our health and ability to fight disease.
Why I Created The Modern Pioneer Cookbook Curriculum
I chat about why it was important for me to create this comprehensive curriculum for students in grades K-12.
Taking a Sneak Peek at Upcoming Recipes on Mary’s Nest
I share upcoming recipes and what I have planned for my Mary’s Nest YouTube channel in 2024.
Stay in Touch with Mary’s Nest
- Subscribe to My YouTube Channel for Traditional Foods Videos (Free) - When you subscribe, be sure to click on the notification bell that will let you know each time I upload a new video.
- Subscribe to Mary’s Traditional Foods Newsletter (Free) - Get a free 36-page eBook for signing up: How to Stock Your Essential Traditional Foods Four-Corners Pantry.
- Join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy (Optional Paid) - For more detailed videos and exclusive members-only perks, join my YouTube membership community.
- Order The Modern Pioneer Cookbook (Optional Paid) - Get a printed book of Mary's nourishing recipes from a Traditional Foods Kitchen. This bestselling cookbook is published by Penguin Random House with their DK imprint.
I look forward to having you join me in my Texas Hill Country Kitchen!
Spaghetti with Leek Greens Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb Spaghetti Cook your pasta al dente, and save 1/4 cup of your pasta water after cooking.
- 1 tbsp Butter
- 1 tbsp Olive oil
- 3 Leek Greens You will have used the white part of your leeks in a previous recipe.
- 1 tsp Sea salt
- 1/2 tsp Black pepper
- 1 tsp Red pepper flakes
- 1 Lemon You'll use the zest and lemon juice.
- 1 Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated You can also use Pecorino Romano or another hard cheese for this optional ingredient.
Instructions
- In a stockpot, bring water up to a boil. Add spaghetti and cook for 4-5 minutes until al dente. Save a 1/4 cup of the pasta water.
- Slice leek greens thinly.
- In a frying pan, add butter and olive oil and saute leek greens in melted butter for 2-3 minutes until greens are softened.
- Add salt, black pepper, red pepper, and the zest from one lemon and stir.
- Add the juice from one lemon and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
- Add cooked spaghetti and toss with sauteed leek greens.
- Add parmigiano-reggiano and saved pasta water and stir.
- Serve as is or with a bread accompaniment. You can keep leftovers for 3-4 days in the refrigerator and reheat in a frying pan.
Video
Notes
Shop for items used in this blog post or video
Favorite Kitchen Supplies
- Favorite Aprons
- Spice Grinder
- Countertop Burner (On my kitchen island in many recipe videos.)
- Handheld Vacuum Sealing System
- Vacuum Lids
- Whisk
- Silica Gel Packets (Helps keep moisture from building up in your mix)
- Cast Iron Dutch Oven
- 8-Quart Slow-Cooker
- Fat Separator (Clever kitchen device to help you decant bone broth)
- Flour Sack Towels
- pH Strips (Helps you check on the acidity of your vinegar)
Amazon Shop and Shopping Guide
- Visit Mary’s Nest Amazon Shop
- Visit my Shopping Guide page
Get up to 15% off for stocking your Traditional Foods Pantry and equipping your Modern Pioneer Kitchen, including discounts from US Wellness Meats, Farmhouse Teas, Lehman's, Masontops, Cultures for Health, Survival Garden Seeds, Redmond Real Salt, Plan to Eat, and More!
