Seabass Fillets with Pesto

I was inspired by Kevin at Closet Cooking to try using pesto, which I love but have only ever eaten with pasta, on fish. Those who know me will know I'm a bit obsessed with meals that are "nutritionally complete" and as much as I like pasta with pesto, it is a bit inadequate since there really isn't any protein. Pesto with fish, therefore, seemed like a great idea. Kevin used tilapia in his recipe but I'm allergic to that (and it's also not widely available in the UK), so I used seabass fillets. It was extremely simple, and extremely delicious - I'll definitely be doing it again.

Seabass fillets with Pesto
(serves 2)

2-4 fillets of seabass (depending on size)
1-2 tablespoons of pesto

For the pesto:

A handful of fresh basil
Large tablespoon of pine nuts (toast these by heating them in a dry frying pan for a few minutes)
1 large clove of garlic
Approx 1 teasp olive oil
Salt

Put the pesto ingredients into a food processor (or a pestle and mortar if you are old-school) and blend until they form a paste.

Wash the fish and put it on a sheet of foil or on a tray for grilling. Spoon the pesto onto the fish and spread around. Put the fish under the grill for around 8 minutes, and you're done!

I served this with roasted baby new potatoes and sautéed leeks and mushrooms, which I have to talk about here because they were Blondini's idea. Since we had a sad little leek sitting in the fridge and no plans as to how to use it up, Blondini decided to buy some chestnut mushrooms which he thought would go very well with the leek.

Sautéed Leeks and Chestnut Mushrooms

1 leek
approx 200g chestnut mushrooms
A little oil for frying
Salt and pepper

I julienned the leek, for no other reason than I thought it would look pretty and resemble noodles, which would be fun. I cut the stalk bits off the mushrooms and then just cut them in half.

Heat a little oil in a frying pan until it is really hot, and then put in the leeks and mushrooms and stir, coating them all with the oil. Let them fry for a few minutes, and season to taste.