Author Notes
Swordfish steaks become moist and tender when baked with white wine and lemon slices. I like to nestle the baked swordfish on a flaky puff pastry biscuit smeared with a salty kalamata olive tapenade. Sweet petite peas, fresh tarragon, and tangy capers marinated in a simple sherry vinaigrette of honey and Dijon mustard add fresh flavor and color to the dish. With each bite, you get a forkful of sweeten peas, moist swordfish, salty tapenade and flaky pastry. Sometimes, I prepare the tarragon petite peas and olive tapenade a day ahead leaving the swordfish and puff pastry to bake before serving for a beautiful presentation. The nickname for this dish is Swordfish Hills and Fields because of the appearance of tiny green hills and trees and golden wheat fields with freshly churned black earth. —Kiss the Cook
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Ingredients
- Tarragon Petite Peas
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1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
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2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
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1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
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1 teaspoon honey
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sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
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8 ounces frozen petite peas, cooked according to package directions
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1 small bunch fresh tarragon, chopped
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1 tablespoon capers
- Kalamata Olive Tapenade
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1/2 clove garlic, coarsely chopped
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1 anchovy
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1 tablespoon pine nuts
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1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil plus more if needed
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sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
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1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives, drained
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frozen puff pastry, thawed (make sure it's puff pastry and not phyllo dough-they are not the same!)
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2 (12-ounce) swordfish steaks, about 1 inch thick, cut in half portions
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sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
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1 cup white wine
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1 lemon, thinly sliced
Directions
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For Tarragon Petite Peas: In a bowl, whisk together vinegar, olive oil, Dijon, honey, salt and pepper. Add petite peas, tarragon, and capers and toss. Let marinate.
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For Kalamata Olive Tapenade: Combine garlic, anchovy, pine nuts, olive oil, salt and pepper in a food processor and puree until smooth. Add olives and process to small bits but not smooth.
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Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut four rectangles larger than swordfish steak from a roll of puff pastry. Make an indentation just inside the edges of the rectangle to make a frame for the swordfish. Bake the puff pastry according to package directions.
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Place swordfish steaks in large shallow baking dish and season with salt and pepper. Pour white wine over and around the fish. Top each fish with a couple lemon slices. Cover with foil. Bake until fish is just cooked through, and still opaque, about 8 to 10 minutes at 400 F degrees.
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Remove the baking pan from oven and transfer fish to platter with slotted spoon leaving liquid in baking dish.
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To serve spread the 1 tablespoon of olive tapenade on each pastry, place the swordfish on top and spoon tarragon petite peas over it.
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