I recently found myself with an abundance of leeks. My original goal was to simply make sure I didn’t waste them, but I soon spent the better part of my afternoon making leek things. Here is how I incorporated them into my lunch–I’d never made anything like this before, so I just twirled my spice rack around and went with it. And it worked!

Throw leeks and salmon in a pan for a quick, healthy lunch

The finished product

Feast your eyes on:

• A salmon filet
• Between 1/4 and 1/3 of the greens (“sheaths”) of one leek
• 1 clove of chopped garlic or a bit of garlic paste
• Ground ginger
• Ground cinnamon
• Salt
• Olive oil
• Parmesan cheese (I liked mine finely grated for this recipe)

Is your salmon frozen? Mine was. Before I started cooking, I popped it in the microwave for 1 minute, in a bowl, and it was room temp when it came out (but it hadn’t begun to cook yet).

Dirty leek? Most leeks are pretty dirty, especially near the base and on the insides of the sheaths. After you chop yours, place it in a collander and rinse it with warm water to get the grime off. Drain it, but don’t worry about drying it fully.

Place the salmon filet in a small pan and put the garlic and leek bits next to or around it. Drizzle each with a bit of olive oil, and splash some cinnamon, ginger, and salt on the leek and garlic. You can do this little by little, tasting as it cooks to see what you like. I put about the same amount of ginger on as I did cinnamon, and quite a bit less salt. I wanted it to sink into the leek as it cooked, so I didn’t go too easy on the spices. Turn the hob on medium heat. Stir the leek bits as they cook, making sure they don’t burn, but leave the salmon alone.

Once the salmon looks cooked (it will be firm and pale orange-pink both inside and outside, should take about 5 minutes), the leek should also be done (you will know because it will have wilted and darkened a bit). Plate them together, and sprinkle some Parmesan on top. Fin!