Fish for Dinner

 On my weekly round through Whole Foods this weekend, they had an entire swordfish that had just been line caught.  The whole big-mama of a fish was just resting on the ice at the seafood counter, freshly delivered from the fishers.  There is no way that I could pass that up.  I grabbed a nice 1.5 lb piece and decided that I would make a swordfish and peppers dish that I adapted from the NY Times.  The fish was beautiful, and could not have been any fresher unless I had lugged one out of the sea myself. 

This recipe has only a few simple ingredients, which allows the fresh flavor of a nice piece of fish to show off.  I sautéed onions and sweet peppers in olive oil, salt and pepper.  

I let them soften and sweeten with the onion for about 15 minutes and added some dried oregano.  I then removed those from the skillet and added a pat of butter and the hot chiles!  I chose a few jalapeños and a red cherry pepper (looks like a red Christmas ornament.)  

 Let the chiles sizzle in the butter for a minute before adding the garlic. Then a few minutes later add in the chunks of swordfish.  Sear them to get a nice brown coating.  Then  turn down the heat and add back in the sweet peppers.  Let it all meld for another 5 minutes.   

  

Then just squeeze on some freshly cut lemon.  

The fish will be tender and moist and at the same time almost steak-like.  Guaranteed you will love it... and your dining companions will be impressed.  

  The original recipe from the NY times is below.

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 small white onion, thinly sliced
4 cups sliced sweet peppers (a mix of bell peppers, cubanelle and others, as many colors as possible)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 pounds swordfish, skin removed, cut into 1 1/4-inch chunks
2 to 3 fresh chile de arbol or other hot chile peppers, seeded if desired, and thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
Lemon juice, as needed
Chopped cilantro, as needed

PREPARATION
1.Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add oil and let warm for 1 minute. Add onion and cook, tossing occasionally, until soft and golden brown, 7 to 10 minutes. Stir in sweet peppers and oregano; cook until very soft, about 10 minutes. Season with ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Scrape vegetables into a bowl.

2.Melt butter in skillet. While butter melts, toss fish with remaining salt and pepper. Add half the chile peppers to skillet and cook until soft, 1 minute. Add garlic to skillet and stir quickly to coat with butter. Add fish and reduce heat to medium-low; cook gently until fish is just opaque, about 5 minutes. Return sweet peppers to pan and toss well. Sprinkle with remaining chile peppers and top with a squeeze of lemon and cilantro.