Leeks the Continental Way

This is a Dutch recipe my daughter Sophie has loved since she was a little girl. She prepared it recently for a dinner party. Her guest raved about it so here it is.

Ingredients:

2 bunches of leeks
2 T butter
3 T flour
1 ½ cups milk, heated to a boil
Salt and pepper
1 cup of any white cheese

Directions:

Cut leeks in half lengthwise, slice in half inch pieces.
Wash thoroughly until all sand is removed. To make it easy let leek soak in water in a
salad spinner for ½ half an hour. Change water twice.
Boil leeks in large pan; fill up with water covering 1/3 of the leeks. Boil on low heat for 8
minutes or until tender. Put a colander on bowl and add the cooked leeks. Save the water,
add ½ cup to milk.

Bechamel Sauce

Melt butter in heavy saucepan over low heat. Blend in flour, cook slowly for 3 minutes.
This is important to remove the floury taste. Cook while stirring, without coloring the
sauce. This is called a white roux. Remove roux from heat and pour in hot liquid at once.
Beat vigorously with wire whip, scraping off roux from sides of the pan until you have a
smooth sauce. You have just made a sauce béchamel. Boil one more minute. Remove
from heat; add salt, pepper and cheese.

Tips:

 
If sauce it too thin,  boil it down while stirring.

If sauce it too thick bring sauce to simmer and add some of the leek boiling liquid or
cream or milk.
If sauce is lumpy put in food processor or through a sieve.
Put enough of the sauce over the leeks, mix and serve.
Freeze the leftover sauce for the next time. It is delicious over cauliflower.