What to do with leek greens

I decided to try another slow cooker recipe yesterday; the Fennel, Potato and Leek Soup. It was quick work, chopping everything up, throwing in a handful of minced parsley (from my winter herb garden on the windowsill) and turning on the slow cooker.

But, I don't know if you've ever noticed, almost all the recipes with leeks that I've come across say, "White parts only." So what are you to do with the green part? Is it inedible? I think not! They have a mild, oniony flavour. When I was in Virginia, I seem to remember baking the greens with some salmon. I thought it was time I improved on that simple, improvised recipe. My own, thrown together recipe for Lemon Cod Fillets with Leek Greens follows below. I didn't measure anything as I was putting this together, so everything is approximate, but that just means that you can experiment and make it to your liking.
Green part of one medium/large-sized leek, sliced finely

1 tbsp butter

1 tsp fennel seeds

1/4 cup chicken/seafood broth

2 cod (or some other fish, preferably white) fillets

white and black pepper, and salt, to taste

1/2 lemon, sliced into rounds

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Slice the green part of one leek finely. You may wish you discard the outermost layer of leaves, if they look particularly fibrous and tough.

2. Heat the butter in a frying pan until it melted. Add the fennel seeds, give it a quick stir, and then immediately add the leek greens and saute until they are wilted. Pour in just one or two tablespoons of the broth to deglaze the pan.

3. Transfer the cooked leek to an aluminium-lined baking dish (for 2 fillets, I used a 9 x 9-inch dish).

4. Season the fillets with the peppers and salt. Lay them them on top of the bed of leeks. Layer the slices of lemon on top of the fillets. Pour the rest of the broth over the fish. Cover the top of the baking dish with aluminium foil and place in the preheated oven. Bake until the fish is cooked through, ~ 20-25 minutes (this depends on the thickness of your fillets, and also how you like your fish cooked). Serve hot, with rice.

If you ever want to try leek greens (really, I can't understand why people don't cook them), I say just use them as you would onions, or spring onions. And, if you try my recipe, let me know what you think.

I also baked some cider cake yesterday, using a recipe from The Shaker Cookbook. I think, however, that that will be it's own post. Also, my fennel, leek and potato soup may have finished cooking, but the recipe calls for it to be pureed into a creamy soup. If only I had an immersion blender!!!! It would be so simple to stick the blender into the pot, et voila! But, since I don't have one, I let the soup cool overnight so I wouldn't risk burning myself, and I'm going to puree it in my roommate's old-fashioned blender, in batches, today.

In other news, I finished a sock yesterday.