Go Back
Swordfish steak in red tomato sauce with green olives and capers, parsley on top, in a white shallow bowl

Easy Pesce Spada alla Siciliana with Capers and Olives

Swordfish steaks simmered in a Sicilian tomato sauce with celery, green olives and capers. Ready in 45 minutes in one skillet.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Sicilian
Calories: 176
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Swordfish
  • 4 swordfish steaks steaks (170 g each, 680 g total); about 2 cm thick, patted dry
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper freshly ground
Sauce
  • 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil (45 ml)
  • 1 yellow onion medium (150 g); finely diced
  • 2 stalks celery (100 g); finely diced
  • 2 cloves garlic thinly sliced
  • 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 80 ml dry white wine
  • 400 g canned whole peeled tomatoes (14 oz) can; crushed by hand, with juice
  • 60 ml water
  • 100 g green olives pitted and halved
  • 2 tbsp capers (20 g); rinsed well
  • fine sea salt to taste; added at the end
To finish
  • 2 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley chopped
  • 1 lemon cut into wedges

Method
 

  1. Pat the swordfish dry and season both sides with the pepper. Rinse the capers, halve the olives, and finely dice the onion and celery.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a 30 cm / 12-inch deep skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and celery with a pinch of salt and cook for 6 minutes, stirring, until soft and translucent but not browned. Stir in the garlic and pepper flakes for 30 seconds.
  3. Pour in the wine and simmer for 2 minutes until the sharp alcohol smell fades. Add the crushed tomatoes, water, olives and capers. Simmer over medium-low heat for 12 minutes, stirring now and then, until the sauce coats the back of a spoon.
  4. Nestle the swordfish steaks in a single layer in the sauce and spoon some sauce over the tops. Cover and cook at a low simmer for 5 minutes. Flip, spoon over more sauce, cover, and cook 4 minutes more, until the fish is opaque and a thermometer reads 145 F / 63 C at the thickest point.
  5. Taste the sauce and add salt only if it needs it. Scatter the parsley over the pan and serve right away, with lemon wedges.

Notes

  • Make the sauce completely before the fish goes in, so the swordfish only needs 9 minutes.
  • Use steaks about 2 cm thick so they stay moist through the simmer.
  • Salt the sauce only after tasting, because olives and capers are already salty.
  • Spoon sauce over the fish before covering the pan to keep the tops from drying out.