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leek ham rolls

2014-04-16 a.o.

Ham rolls can be made with other vegetables than Belgian Endive. The real attraction of this dish is the ham & cheese combination, which remains the same regardless what vegetables you add.

Leeks are quite expensive here in the US, and often poor quality. I consider myself lucky if they have more than 3" of white. It should be a foot or more! I started growing leeks in my back yard in 2013 for the very purpose of making this dish. It was a wonderful time...

INGREDIENTS

This is what you need for 6 servings:

• 6 WHITE leek trunks, at least 6" each
• 6 slices thick-sliced ham
• 1 qt. Mornay Sauce
• 2 cups of a  melting cheese you like,
  grated or chopped,
   e.g. Swiss, Gruyere, Pepperjack, Chihuahua, asadero, ...

Pic1: leek ham rolls with cheesy béchamel sauce — 2020-09-15

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 280-300 ºF.
• IMPORTANT: The main reason for the sauce breaking / curdling is cooking at too high temperature.
  Since everything is already cooked, there is no reason to go very high anyway.
  

leek greens

2020-09-15

Pic2-4: leek greens for soup

• Cut away the dark green leek leaves. Use only the white trunk of the leek for the ham rolls.
  The green leaves are tough and bitter. Use only the sweet white trunk for this.
• If desired, wash, chop and blanch the leek greens to freeze for later use in soups.

 

sauce

2020-09-15

Pic5-7: white roux

• Make a very thick white roux by frying flour into oil or butter. (Pic5)
• Remove form the heat and add up to 1 cup warm milk to thicken the roux. (Pic6)
• Whisk in more milk to remove the clumps and get a béchamel sauce.
• Simmer 15 minutes over low heat to get rid of the flour taste.
  Stir frequently to prevent burning.

 

2020-09-15

Pic8-10: white sauce with cheese

• Season to taste. (S&P, nutmeg)
• Whisk in the chopped cheese(s) to make a cheesy béchamel sauce.
• For Mornay Sauce, whisk in an egg yolk.
  Mornay sauce holds up better than béchamel for baking.
• Make sure the end result is a very thick, but still pourable sauce.

 

cook the leek trunks

2021-05-09

Pic11-13: sautéing the leeks

2014-04-16

Pic14: braising the leeks
Pic15: drain
Pic16: roll

• Remove any outside leaves and layers that look dry.
• Cut the trunk lengthwise halfway through, all the way to the center.
• Open up the trunk carefully and wash away any dirt that may hide between the layers.
  Do not separate the leaves, keep the trunk together.
  
• Boil, braise or steam the leek trunks.
  • Make sure you use enough liquid to prevent the leeks from cooking dry.
    Having a burnt flavor in this dish will destroy it.
  • On 2014-04-16, I used the broth of a soup I made the day before, and recycled the cooking liquid back into that soup with some extra leek flavor.
• Very important:
  Drain the leek trunks very well, even squeeze them down a bit. (Pic3)
  Excess liquid in the leek will make the sauce too runny.

 

leek ham rolls

2020-09-15

Pic17-19: preparing the dish

• Cut the leek trunks to size for your ham slices.
  It looks better if the leeks don't stick out more than 1/4".
• Lay out the ham slices.
• Add a leek trunk and a stripe of sauce. Roll roll up the ham as tightly as you can make it.
• Arrange the ham rolls in the dish on top of a layer of sauce. (Pic5)
• Cover with sauce.
  I like to drown them completely. Some prefer the sauce only halfway.

 

bake and serve

2014-04-16

Pic20-22: stack, add sauce & cheese, bake

 

2020-09-15

Pic23-25: bake & serve

• Optional:
  • Add extra cheese and breadcrumbs on top of the dish.
  • The dish can be frozen at this stage for later use.
• Bake at 280-300 ºF for 30 minutes, until the sauce bubbles well and ham rolls are heated through.
  If frozen, bake 45-60 minutes.
• Serve and enjoy. (Pic1)

Serving suggestion:

• Serve with mashed potatoes, and serve the sauce on top like gravy.

---

b. Another day, another dish

This is a more recent version. I bought too many leeks, prepared leek rolls for 3 meals and froze 2 of them for later use.

INGREDIENTS

This is what you need for 10+ servings:

• 10 leeks
• 20+ slices of ham
• 6 cups béchamel sauce
• 2-3 cups melting cheese

optional:

• 2 egg yolks
• 2 cups heavy cream

Pic26: leek ham rolls

Directions

sauce

2021-09-25

Pic26-28: leek velouté / béchamel sauce

 

Pic29-31: with cheese

 

final liaison

2021-09-25: kitcheneering experiment #1,253.

Pic32: eggs & cream
Pic33: whisk together
Pic33: add to the sauce

• The final liaison is a mixture of egg yolks and heavy cream.
  It is used to thicken soups and sauces as the LAST ingredient.
• Add about 1 cup of the warm but not boiling sauce to the liaison to 'warm it up'
  Then whisk the liaison into the sauce.
• After adding this, the sauce should not be boiled, or the liaison will break.
• Perhaps not such a good idea here, because this dish will still go in the oven.
  BUT there is a way around this problem ...

the rest

2021-09-25: cooking the leeks

Pic35-: leek greens & discards
Pic36: steaming leek trunks
Pic37: ready to go

• Clean the leeks.
• This time, I steamed them for 30 minutes.
• Gather all ingredients to make the ham rolls.

 

2021-09-25: making ham rolls

Pic38-39: ham rolls

• I used 2 slices of ham to accommodate the bigger leek trunks.
• Add leeks and a lick of sauce. Roll up tightly.
• Arrange the ham rolls in a baking dish, 4 or 6, depending on your appetite.
  One of these oversized ham rolls was a full meal.
• Ladle sauce over the ham rolls.
  I prefer to drown them completely.
• Lift the rolls a bit to allow the sauce to fill air pockets underneath.

 

2021-09-25: bake

Pic40: sauced ham rolls
Pic41: baked
Pic42: the sauce broke

• I baked these ham rolls @ 350 ºF.
  Not surprisingly, the sauce broke, looked like curdled milk and water.
• The flavor was still OK, but this shows the importance of baking this at 300 ºF. or less.

 

2021-09-26: reheat

Pic43: day 2 reheat
Pic44+45: served

• By adding a little bit of milk and stirring over low heat stovetop, the sauce was restored.

 

2021-10-03: from frozen

Pic46: frozen sauced leek ham rolls
Pic47: baked
Pic48: served

• This one was baked frozen @ 280 ºF.  without prior thawing.
• Here the sauce turned out just fine, demonstrating that the excess heat is the problem, not the cheese or cream in the sauce.
• Enjoy. These are really good.

 

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