Swordfish with tomato, capers and oregano

Serves - 4

You’ll need

• 4 swordfish steaks
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 2 tbsp capers, drained
• 1 tsp dried oregano, or 1 tbsp fresh oregano leaves
• Juice of ½ lemon
• Small handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• Sea salt
• Black pepper

Method

1. Start the tomato base

Heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion with a pinch of salt and cook gently for 6–8 minutes until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another minute, just until fragrant and heading in the right direction.

2. Build the sauce

Add the chopped tomatoes, capers and oregano, then season with black pepper and a small pinch of salt. Let it simmer gently for 10–12 minutes until slightly thickened. You want it rich enough to sit around the fish nicely, not race about the pan like soup.

3. Prep the swordfish

While the sauce simmers, pat the swordfish steaks dry with kitchen paper and season them with salt and black pepper. Swordfish likes decisive cooking, so get everything ready before it goes anywhere near the pan.

4. Cook the fish

Heat the remaining olive oil in a separate frying pan over a medium-high heat. Cook the swordfish steaks for 2–3 minutes on each side, depending on thickness, until golden outside and just cooked through. You want them firm but still juicy. Take them too far and they will let you know.

5. Bring it all together

Squeeze the lemon juice into the tomato sauce and stir through most of the parsley. Sit the swordfish steaks into the sauce and spoon a little over the top. Let everything bubble together for a minute so the fish picks up some of those good tomatoey, briny flavours.

6. Serve

Transfer the swordfish to plates or a serving dish and spoon over plenty of the tomato and caper sauce. Scatter over the remaining parsley and serve straight away. Very good with roasted potatoes, crusty bread or something simple and green alongside.

A couple of helpful notes

- Swordfish is best cooked until only just done, as it dries out quickly if left too long in the pan.
- If you want a little warmth, a pinch of chilli flakes in the sauce works very nicely.
- A few black olives would not feel out of place here if you want to push it a little further in that sunny Mediterranean direction.