Pan Seared Halibut with Leek-Dijon Sauce and Leek Mashed Potatoes

Sometimes it is a risk following a recipe found on someone's random personal blog. Mine for example, I cannot guarantee that every recipe that is posted is exactly what we did...we tweak things here and there and may not have it recorded. The following meal was one of those blog finds that seemed to fit the bill after we purchased halibut and already had leeks on hand.

We did a half recipe of the potatoes, and almost full recipe of the leek-dijon sauce

Pan Seared Halibut with Leek-Dijon Sauce and Leek Mashed Potatoes

Pan Seared Halibut with Leek-Dijon Sauce
Serves 4

Ingredients

4 Halibut fillets about 1/2 lb each
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup chicken stock or white wine
1/2 cup whole milk (we used 1%)
1 Tbsp butter
1 leek, trimmed and finely chopped
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Method

1. Season halibut fillets with salt and pepper and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together mustard, olive oil, chicken stock, and milk. Set aside.

2. Heat about 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large sautée pan over medium-high heat. Add fillets to the pan and sautée on one side for about 3 minutes. Flip carefully and sautée for another 3-5 minutes. If the fillets are very thick, they may take a little longer, but be careful not to overcook them. They should flake with a fork and be just opaque (maybe even a little teeny bit translucent in the very middle depending on your taste). Remove to a warmed plate.

3. Add butter to the same pan. Add leeks and sautée gently until softened, about 2 minutes. Add the milk and mustard mixture. Simmer over medium heat until thickened, about 5 minutes. Grate lemon zest over the sauce and squeeze about a Tbsp of lemon juice into the sauce. Stir to mix. Spoon sauce over fish (and mashed potatoes) and serve immediately.

Creamy Leek Mashed Potatoes
Serves 4

Ingredients

4 Yukon Gold Potatoes
Salt and pepper
1 leek trimmed and chopped finely
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup whole milk or more

Method

1. Peel potatoes and cut into one-inch pieces. Boil for about 15 minutes or until fork tender. In the meantime, melt butter over medium heat in a medium sautée pan. Add leeks and sautée until softened and slightly browned, about 4-5 minutes. Spoon into large bowl. Drain potatoes into same bowl. Add milk and mash either with hand masher or electric hand mixer. Season with salt and pepper.


The recipe also called for kale chips to top the fish. You can see in the picture that we attempted this. However, the kale chip was removed post photo because I burnt the you-know-what out of them after forgetting about them in the oven. Boy, those were bitter.

The fish was good, nothing really special. I like the sauce but wouldn't go out of my way to make it again. The potatoes were nice - I actually really liked them. But I was also craving carbs at the time...instead of the peeled large potatoes, we used small fingerling potatoes and kept the skin on, adding texture and some sort of nutrient to the dish.

In general, this would probably be a good recipe to revisit if I have everyone on hand - and the sauce would be great with chicken or pork as well. Perhaps a thin cutlet of either, breaded and sauteed, topped with the leek-dijon sauce...I think that would be quite nice.