Leeks are a tricky vegetable. I do like them but I’m not always sure what to do with them. I had them oven roasted at my friend’s place in Tuscany – that was damn fine – and in vichyssoises (leek and potato soup) but I rarely cook them at home. We received a bundle of them in our CSA box last week, so there was no getting around it, I was going to have to cook them. I cracked Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone
Essentially, you simmer the leeks in white wine with a handful of herbs until they’re done. That’s exactly what I did and when the leeks were cooked through, I lifted them out of the pan and put in a hefty Marlin steak. Marlin, if it’s wild caught Hawaiian marlin, is considered a sustainable fish though I had a moment of crisis at the fish counter. I like marlin a lot, it’s meaty and dense and goes great on the grill. Steamed in wine it was moist and tender, but could have supported something a little less subtle. I probably should have let the sauce reduce a bit more before adding the fish- that would have made for a more intense flavor. No complaints, though, it was a nice springtime plate of food, mild with a little bite if you happened to get one of the peppercorns floating in the sauce. Yum.
A short side note: Lately, lots of people have been saying tremendously nice things about Nerd’s Eye View, both online and off… the good people of TravelPod, TravBuddy, Uptake, the folks that buy the links on my sidebar… just to name a few. To those folks – and all of you that bother to spend your valuable time reading this blog – I just wanted to say thank you. Look me up if you’re in my part of the world. I’m likely to invite you over for fish dinner. No, really. There are people out there who will confirm that I totally mean it.