oatmeal

Of all Irish vegetables, leeks are probably the one mentioned most often in the great ancient foodie poems such as The Vision of MacConglinne -- endlessly praised for their hardiness, ease of growing, and the sharp fresh spike of flavor that they give to the foods they're cooked with. Some of the affection was probably based in straightforward practicality: it's not every vegetable that does so well in the Irish climate.

Leeks turn up in all kinds of Irish recipes, but most commonly in soups and stews, and sometimes as a major ingredient. Brotchan foltchep is one of the oldest soups in which they appear, paired up with that other hardy northern crop, oats. Evidence of the popularity of this treatment may be suggested by the soup's other name, brotchan roy: "roy" seems to come from the old word for king, rí. A soup fit for kings, perhaps? or just fed to them? At this end of time, it's hard to tell. But the soup is hearty, tasty, chock full of vitamins and (as we now know) antioxidants -- something very positive and pleasant to be eating as winter turns toward spring.

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