Leeks au gratin

Preparation time 20 minutes

Total time: 1 hour

Ingredients

250 mL (1 cup) milk
15 mL (1 tbsp.) butter
15 mL (1 tbsp.) all-purpose flour
4 leeks, white only , trimmed and cut in 12 cm (5-inch) lengths, blanched 5 minutes, drained*
4 slices Compliments Oven-Roasted Ham with Rosemary
2 sweet red peppers , halved and seeded
1 mL (1/4 tsp.) ground nutmeg
To taste, pepper
75 mL (1/3 cup) grated Parmesan cheese
Coarsely chopped fresh rosemary

Preheat oven broiler.
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place pepper halves, skin up, on sheet. Broil for 15 minutes, or until pepper skins blacken. Transfer peppers to a sealable plastic bag. Let sit for 10 minutes. Remove skin from peppers. Reserve.
Place ham slices on a work surface. Arrange pepper on ham to cover slices entirely.
Place a leek at one end of each ham slice and roll up. Arrange rolls in a single layer, seams down, in a 20 cm (8-inch) square baking pan. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook for 1 minute. Add milk gradually and cook until sauce becomes smooth and thick.
Add nutmeg and pepper to taste, and stir sauce well. Reduce oven temperature to 180°C (350°F). Pour sauce onto ham and leek rolls; sprinkle Parmesan cheese and rosemary on top. Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is golden.
Serve as an appetizer with a salad of mixed vegetables.

*TIP: To blanch leeks, simply plunge into a saucepan of boiling salted water and cook for 5 minutes or until tender. Drain and reserve.