Tonight I made another recipe from The Olive and The Caper, and this time it featured both of those ingredients. Swordfish marinated in lemon and olive oil is skewered with onions and bay leaves, grilled, and served with an olive and caper tapenade. I followed the recipe as listed below, except that I used less oil than called for. We had asparagus and broccoli cheese couscous on the side.

Lisa says:

Everything’s salty — this is my dream dinner! I usually don’t like olives, but that tapenade is really good. The marinade on the swordfish is so flavorful!

Chris says:

Wow, this rules. I didn’t think bay leaves were used in anything but stews and sauces for flavoring. You can really taste the flavor of them on the onions. Yeah, the tapenade is pretty salty, and so is the couscous — actually that couscous is pretty vile.

Lisa says:

Yeah, I can’t tell if I like it, or if it tastes like vomit.

Chris says:

There’s a winning endorsement… I’m just glad we also had the asparagus. Let’s definitely make that swordfish again, it was delicious.

Swordfish Kebabs with Olive and Caper Tapenade
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1 cup lemon and oil marinade (Recipe Follows)
8 to 10 bay leaves, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 1/2 pound swordfish, cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks
1 large onion, quartered, layers separated
2 cups Olive and Caper Tapenade (Recipe Follows)

Marinade:
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chopped rosemary
Stir all the ingredients together in a small bowl.

Olive and Caper Tapenade:
3/4 cup pitted Kalamata or other Greek black olives
4 large cloves garlic
4 anchovy fillets, preferably salt-packed
3/4 cup capers, drained
1/2 packed cup fresh basil leaves
2/3 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Place all the ingredients in a food processor and process until chopped as fine as possible.

Place the marinade and the bay leaves in a dish that is large enough to hold all the swordfish chunks in one layer. Add the swordfish and onion and turn to coat it in the marinade. Marinate for 20 to 30 minutes at room temperature, or cover and refrigerate for up to 2 hours. Turn the fish once or twice while it is marinating. When you are ready to cook swordfish, heat a grill to medium-hot. String an onion section, a piece of bay leaf, and then a swordfish chunk in a skewer. Repeat, in that order, until the skewer is filled, ending with a piece of onion. Fill all the skewers in this fashion. If there are extra onion sections left over, thread them on a separate skewer and cook them along with the others. Place the skewers on the grill and cook, turning once, just until white curds form on top of the fish and the centers are still a bit pink, 7 to 8 minutes. Transfer the skewers to a platter and let them sit for the juices to settle, 5 minutes. Arrange the skewers on a platter and serve right away, accompanied by the tapenade.