Olive-Crusted Swordfish

I’ve been an olive fan ever since I was a little girl. I started the way most kids do, by placing those pitted black olives on each of my fingers, playing with them for a little while, then happily sucking each one off my fingers until they were gone and I could start all over again.

Later my mother introduced me to green olives and they soon became my favorite. There were so many marinades for them, I felt like I was never eating the same green olive twice. And of course once I was an adult, I discovered a martini just wasn’t a martini without at least 2 bright green olives soaking in the vodka. Adding olive juice and turning said cocktail dirty was, and still is, pure heaven.

So you can understand my utter joy when Lindsay Olives sent me a few cans of their olives and asked me to whip up a dish or two. While my first instinct was to shake up a dirty martini, I knew that would be a poor use of such a great product. I wanted to create something that would not only tickle the taste buds but show off the olive in all its glory. An olive tapenade does just that.

The tapenade is a great appetizer, ideal for spreading on crackers or baguettes, but what if you spread it on a protein and serve it as your main course? Sure the tapenade would be great on chicken, but what about fish? Hubs and I adore fish and absolutely do not eat enough of it. So, I grabbed a couple swordfish steaks, slathered on the tapenade and had dinner fit for a king. The salty tapenade paired perfectly with the fish and was a nice change of pace from the more standard appetizer. But don’t worry, if you prefer your olives before dinner, this tapenade is absolutely awesome when spread on crostinis and served with a soft herbed cheese.

Olive-Crusted Swordfish

Ingredients:

for the tapenade:

• 1/3 cup pitted Kalamata olives
• 1 tablespoon flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 tablespoon anchovy paste
• 1-1/2 teaspoons capers
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

for the fish:

• 2 large swordfish steaks
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:

1. Place all the ingredients for the tapenade in a food processor and process until finely chopped and paste-like, set aside.
2. Season the swordfish with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the swordfish steaks and cook, undisturbed for 10 minutes. Flip the steaks, spread the olive tapenade on top of each steak and continue to cook for another 10 minutes or until the fish is cooked all the way through. Serve.

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. While Lindsay Olives sent me the olives, these opinions and recipes are my own.