Mediterranean Swordfish

This dish is fabulous with the bounty of red-ripe cherry tomatoes, but works great even in the winter. Reducing the tomatoes into a thick delicious sauce concentrates the flavors and marries perfectly with the salty olives and capers. A hearty potpourri that marries so well with the meaty swordfish. This recipe is so nice we've posted it twice - cherry tomatoes are in season right now!

Alexander's Prime Meats and Howie's Market can provide you beautiful seafood, and being a local full service butcher and grocery, will slice the fish to order. A 1" fillet is perfect for this dish and serves 2 hungry people.

Better yet, this is all cooked in one pan on your stove top and comes together in about 30 minutes. We suggest serving it with a hearty Cabernet Sauvignon.

Need hard to get or unusual ingredients? Just ask us!

Mediterranean Swordfish with Cherry Tomatoes, Capers and Black Olives

Marinade

• 2 -3 TB olive oil

• 1 TB fresh or 1 tsp dried, Oregano

• Pinch of red chili flakes

• 1/4 cup chopped Italian Parsley

• 2 tsp chopped garlic

Fish

• 1 1" thick Swordfish Fillet (approx. 1 pound)

• 1 TB olive oil

• 4 cups sweet cherry tomatoes

• 1/2 cup white wine

• 2 TB capers, rinsed

• 1/3 cup Italian oil cured black olives, pitted and roughly chopped (sometimes known as salt-cured; the wrinkly ones)

• 1/4 cup fresh basil, julienned

Swordfish may have a 'bloodline' (you can see it to the top right in the picture). The flavor is a lot stronger and is not to everyone's taste. If that is the case for you, cut to the left of the line (in the picture), removing it and the skin and discard it.

Marinate fish in marinade for one hour, at least. Reserve marinade.

Heat a large sauté pan until hot. Add the 1 TB of olive oil. Sear the swordfish fillet for 1 minute on each side. Remove from pan and set aside.

Add the tomatoes to the pan and sauté over medium heat until they just start to split open. Add the white wine and cook over medium-high heat until reduced by half. Add the reserved marinade, capers, black olives and basil and cook over medium heat until it starts to get thick. (This is a good point to pause if you want to start your meal with a salad!)

Move the tomato mixture a bit to the sides of the pan so that you have room to place the swordfish onto the bottom of the pan. Return swordfish to pan and cook several minutes on each side until done. Undercooked swordfish is rubbery, overcooked it is dry. The best way to cook just about anything is to use an instant read thermometer, in which case you want to cook it to 120-125 degrees.

When the fish is done, remove it from the pan and reduce the tomato sauce until it is relatively thick. The tomatoes will start to caramelize but don't go too far or it will burn.

Serve the fish with sauce on top. Instant couscous (we also like to add some frozen peas) makes a nice side dish. Rice would also be good.

WINE SUGGESTION: Cabernet Sauvignon