Seared Marlin Steaks with Leek and Sorrell Risotto

We are working our way through a wedding gift of Three Floyds beers, and making food pairings of each bottle. This month we had "Gorch Fock" which is a German style Helles lager. Since a lager is a very lightly flavored beer, I wanted a lightly flavored dinner to match it.

This dinner was one I was very proud of, because I came up with it walking through the grocery store. I stopped at a seafood store to see what was they had for a "fresh catch". I picked up two nice Blue Marlin steaks, and then had to create a meal around them. My initial idea was a pasta, but since Ray is the pasta maker in the family, and I didn't want to make him work for his supper, that idea was out. So, risotto was my next logical choice.

Risotto is a bit labor intensive, but the creamy texture is worth the effort. And, this meal required some timing coordination. The key was putting the steaks on the flame right at the last addition of stock to the risotto.

Seared Marlin Steaks with Leek and Sorrell Risotto
For the fish:
2 8 ounce Blue Marlin steaks, season both sides with:
orange pepper
sea salt
Have 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil ready for cooking, and a saute pan that you can put in the oven.

1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Toss tomatoes in vinegar, oil, salt and pepper. Bake at 350 for 1 hour until soft, then blend until smooth.

For risotto:
1 cup arborio rice
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup sliced leeks
3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1/3 cup dry white wine
3 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
6 leaves of sorrell, cut in chiffonade

Heat butter and olive oil in a large saute pan, and saute leeks and garlic until the leeks are tender. Add white wine, and stir until wine is almost evaporated. Heat chicken stock in a separate sauce pan, and add 1/2 cup at a time. Continuously stir until stock is absorbed, then add another 1/2 cup of stock. Continue in this way until the rice is tender, this will take 20-30 minutes. Just before adding the last portion of stock, turn on the heat for the fish pan, and add the butter and olive oil. Get the pan quite hot, and put fish in, sear for 2 minutes, turn fish over, and put in a 350 degree oven.

To finish rice, turn off heat when all of the stock is absorbed, stir in parmesan cheese and sorrell. Then, remove fish from oven after 7 minutes and let rest for 2 minutes. Serve fish with tomato sauce over the top.