Steamed fish with winter salsa verde

The starting point for this dish were leeks which had been sitting in my fridge for, um, a little while, looking at me reproachfully every time I opened the door to get something else, saying "that's is, make something with carrots, we'll just sit here and go to waste, oooh, yes, but that's ok, we're just the humble leeks...". Of course, the leeks didn't actually speak (no need for you to be alerted, dear reader) but I sure felt bad as days went by and those leeks started to look a little sad. The thing is, I had bought them to make one of Donna Hay's risotto recipes, that was actually going to be my new year - new recipe dish for that week. But then someone cut to the chase making a truly delightful thyme risotto for us just before I had a chance to make the Donna Hay one. Seeing I also had some frozen fish fillets I decided to make the leeks with them and settled on steaming the fish and serving it with a variation of a salsa verde. I call it winter salsa verde as leeks are a winter vegetable (clever, huh?).

Steamed fish with winter salsa verde (serves 2)

• roughly 300g fish fillets, skinned (use rather thin fillets such as
  
• salt, white pepper
• lemon juice
• 3 large gherkins, cut into small cubes
• 2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and chopped
• 4 tablespoons flat-leafed parsely, chopped
• 1 tablespoon mustard
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons water of very light stock
  
• pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 leeks, white parts only, chopped

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan. Gently fry the leeks for a few minutes, then add some water and cover the pan. Cook until the leeks are soft and place them in a small bowl. Add the gherkins, capers, parsely, mustard and stir until well combined. Stir in the vinegar and the water or stock, then season with freshly ground black pepper. Set aside. Drizzle the fish fillets with the lemon juice and season with salt and white pepper. Roll up, skin-side out. Place in a lightly oiled steam basket and steam for about 15 minutes or until done, the exact cooking time depends on the thickness of the fish. Spoon some sauce onto two plates and arrange the fish on top. Serve with boiled potatoes and the rest of the sauce on the side. In summer, this would be lovely served cold as well.