Ever been blinded by the beauty of a vegetable in the grocery store?

I can just hear half of my friends laughing at me after that statement. But seriously, sometimes you’re just casually making your way through the produce section and BAM! the perfect, crispy, peak of it’s life vegetable is staring you in the face.

You have no need for it, weren’t planning on buying it, but you know at that moment you now have to because it’s perfection epitomized.

That’s what happened to me with these leeks. Leeks are a wonderful spring vegetable and once you master how to chop them, they’re a delicious and mild-tasting ingredient to incorporate into a variety of dishes like this easy chicken dinner.

Chicken with leeks apples and sun-dried tomatoes

They were huge (almost the length of the dog to be honest), vibrant green and without the slightest hint of a wilting outer leaf.

They were also full of dirt and sand, a sign I’m choosing to interpret as fresh from the farm.

Onions and I have a love/hate relationship.

I love them cooked, absolutely despise them raw. There’s really nothing in this world worse than nasty raw onion breath that lingers for the entire day. Eww.

Leeks are like the perfect middle ground.

They’re oniony, but not so much so that if they’re not cooked completely they leave that nasty taste behind.

And when you don’t cook them completely, they retain that slight crunch factor which makes them totally delicious flavor and texture wise. I also love that they’re green. That just makes it seem less weird to eat a whole bunch and deem it a vegetable.

Eating a bunch of regular onions would just be weird.

So here’s the best part of this chicken and leek meal, it looks fancy enough to serve for an occasion (if you’re cooler than me and actually have dinner parties) but it’s easy enough for a weeknight dinner.

It’s also pretty adaptable protein wise. Pork chops or even a white fish would be great here too.