Will this recipe work with frozen leeks?

Yes, but I'd allocate a lot more time for softening the leeks in half the butter as you want all the water to evaporate from the pan before you combine them with the white sauce. Picard on Ocado do really good frozen leeks .

Easy Cheesy Baked Leeks

Name: Easy Cheesy Baked Leeks
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 40 min
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 800g leeks (around 6 leeks usually); 100g butter; 50g plain flour; 600ml whole milk; 175g gruyere; 1/4 tsp nutmeg; salt and pepper, to taste

Easy Cheesy Baked Leeks

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This simple, classic recipe for Baked Cheesy Leeks is the ultimate cold weather side dish pairing buttery leeks with a creamy sauce and plenty of cheese!

Author: Margie
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Yield: Serves 6
Category: Side Dish
Method: Oven
Cuisine: British
Diet: Vegetarian

Ingredients

Scale

800g leeks (around 6 leeks usually)
100g butter
50g plain flour
600ml whole milk
175g gruyere
1/4 tsp nutmeg
salt and pepper, to taste

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Instructions

Slice the leeks into rounds, discarding the dark woody ends. Add to a shallow casserole or large frying pan with half the butter over medium-high heat. Sauté until soft, around 10-15 minutes. This shouldn't be total mush but cooked.
Heat the oven to 220c/200c fan. For the white sauce, in a separate pan melt the remaining butter over medium heat. Once melted, add the flour, stir to create a paste. Cook out this paste for a few minutes, stirring it as you go, then slowly add the milk, adding a little at a time and whisking between each addition, to create a smooth, glossy white sauce. Add the nutmeg (or dijon) and 3/4 the grated gruyere and stir to incorporate. Season to taste.
Add the leeks to a baking dish and top with the cheese sauce, then stir it all together. Here is where you could add in pancetta or ham if using. Sprinkle over the remaining cheese.
Bake for 20 minutes or until the top is golden and the sauce is bubbling.

Notes

Get ahead - you can cook the leeks in advance, and assemble the gratin ready to bake later if you're serving this to guests. Leftovers warm up well but the leeks will loose some of their texture so these portions are best for just you and your family!

Rest the leeks for 5 minutes before serving - not only will this make sure the leeks are not too hot to eat when they hit your plate, it will help the flavours meld a little and make sure the leeks don't just slip off your spoon as you try to dish up nice big portions.

Nutmeg - if you don't like nutmeg, use a teaspoon of Dijon mustard.

Cheese - I love gruyere as it melts well and also has good flavour so I would keep that in the white sauce but for the topping, you could use mozzarella for melty, gooey cheese or parmesan for a saltier, more savoury flavour.

Other veg - this would also be great with Brussels sprouts. Slice them thinly with a mandolin (carefully) or with a food processor. Fry them in butter like you would the leeks until soft. Continue the recipe as normal. A mix of both leeks and sprouts would also be good.

Pancetta - I have also made this before with crispy pancetta. Over a medium heat, add diced pancetta and cook gently so the fat renders out and fries the pancetta. Keep stirring it every so often, this should take around 15 minutes. I would then use the same pan to make the white sauce to give the sauce a bacon flavour, it's so good. Just make sure if there are any burnt bits from the pancetta in the pan to discard them so you don't get it in the sauce.

Ham: for any leftover Christmas ham, this makes a great recipe to use it up. I like to chop it up and stir it in with the leeks and the sauce once it's in the baking dish. Then bake as usual. Or you could fry the ham with the leeks in step 1 to crisp them up a little.

Find it online: https://desertislanddishes.co/easy-cheesy-baked-leeks/