Roasted White Fish with Leeks and Bacon

My friend Emily borrowed a copy of Jamie Oliver's "Jamie at Home" from her public library, and we prepared this for a small dinner party. We served it with a Riesling, salad, and apple crisp pie (see separate entry)!

You can use any thick, mild-flavored white fish: cod, turbot, etc. At the grocery store, the closest approximation was Asian basa fillet, a thin catfish. We adjusted the recipe to serve 5 people.

ROASTED WHITE FISH WITH LEEKS AND BACON

serves 4

16 baby leeks washed and trimmed (We used 3 large leeks)
4 7 oz. fillets of white fish (We used Asian basa fillet)
1 large lemon cut into 8 thin wedges
4 sprigs of rosemary
8 rashers of smoked streaky bacon

For the marinade:

A couple of sprigs each of rosemary, thyme, and bay leaves
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and place a baking tray in the oven to warm up.
To make the marinade, bash up the thyme, rosemary, and bay leaves with the salt in a pestle and mortar until the salt has turned green. Pour in two glugs of olive oil, a pinch of pepper, and the lemon juice and give it a stir.

Parboil the leeks in salted water for about three minutes. Drain in a colander and let them steam dry.

Put the fish, lemon, rosemary sprigs and leeks into a bowl. Pour in the marinade and toss to cover everything.

Place the fish into the preheated tray. (We lined a Pyrex baking dish with aluminum foil; it made clean-up a breeze.) Scoop the lemon, rosemary leeks, and marinade out of the bowl and place over and around the fish and roast in the oven for approximately 15-20 minutes until the fish is just cooked and the bacon is crisp.

Pile up on a plate and serve.