Marcella Hazan

Spiedini di Pesce Spada con Peperoni, Pomodoro e Limone

Swordfish Skewers with Peppers, Tomato, and Lemon

Preparation info

  • For

    4 to 6

    Persons

    • Difficulty

      Easy

Appears in

Marcella's Italian Kitchen

Marcella's Italian Kitchen

By Marcella Hazan

Published 1986

  • About

What gives these skewers liveliness is the faintly gamy taste of swordfish contrasted with the soft tomato, the pungently vegetal pepper, and the tart Sicilian scent of grilled lemon. It is an ideal fish for an outdoor barbecue, but it is also completely satisfactory cooked in an indoor broiler.

Ingredients

  • 1¾ to 2 pounds swordfish, sliced at least 1½ inches thick
  • 2 sweet bell peppers, preferably yellow but if unavailable, red
  • 1 large or 2 smaller ripe, firm tomatoes
  • 1 large lemon
  • ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt
  • Black pepper in a grinder
  • Freshly squeezed juice of ½ lemon
  • 1 tablespoon fine, dry, unflavored bread crumbs, toasted as described

Method

  1. Remove the skin from the swordfish and cut the fish into cubes of about 1½ to 2 inches.
  2. Rinse the peppers in cold water, cut them in half, and remove all the seeds and the core. Cut them into squares of about 2 inches.
  3. Rinse the tomato and cut into ½-inch-thick sections, discarding the seeds and letting any juice run off.
  4. Slice the lemon into disks about ¼ inch thick, then cut the disks in half into a half-moon shape.
  5. Put the swordfish and peppers into a bowl, add the olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and bread crumbs. Mix well and let marinate at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes.
  6. Turn on the broiler.
  7. Using 1 pair of skewers at a time, held parallel, insert the ingredients in the following sequence: pepper, tomato, lemon, swordfish; then again lemon, tomato, pepper. Try always to end with a piece of pepper, if you can, and to bracket each chunk of fish between 2 slices of lemon.
  8. When the broiler is hot, put in the skewers, basting the upper part with half the marinade from the bowl. Cook for about 4 minutes, then turn over the skewers and baste the other half with the remainder of the marinade. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes more, then serve immediately.