Grilled Swordfish With Greek Salad

Swordfish is great for grilling. It is a very firm-fleshed fish, and holds together where other fish flake apart. If you are just starting out with grilling fish, try swordfish.

Swordfish may be easy to grill, but it is very mild-tasting. I marinate swordfish in olive oil with lemon, oregano, and a pinch of sugar. This gives it a crunchy browned crust on the grill. Then I serve it with a Greek salad full of olives, feta cheese, and grilled peppers and onions. The result is a balance of opposites—mild, meaty swordfish meets crunchy, bold salad.

Now, if you've been around for a while (like me), you might be thinking: Swordfish? Isn't it endangered? What happened to "Give swordfish a break?"

Your memory isn't failing you. Swordfish was in trouble back in the '90s, and there was a campaign to save it. Thanks to good fisheries management, North Atlantic swordfish had fully recovered by 2009. Buy swordfish that was caught in North American waters and give your conscience a break—our swordfish is sustainable, and will be around for a very long time.

Recipe: Grilled Swordfish with Greek Salad

Ingredients:
Grilled Fish

• 4 (1-inch thick) Swordfish steaks
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt (½ teaspoon per steak)
• ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• ¼ cup olive oil
• Juice of ½ a lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
• Zest from ½ lemon
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano (or 2 teaspoons fresh oregano, minced)
• ½ teaspoon sugar

Grilled Vegetables

• 1 large red onion, cut into ½ inch thick rounds
• 1 green bell pepper, cored, sides cut into large planks
• 1 red bell pepper, cored, sides cut into large planks
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt

Greek Salad

• Juice of ½ a lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
• Zest from ½ a lemon
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• 1 clove garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon fresh oregano, minced)
• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 English cucumber, halved and cut into ¼ inch thick rounds
• 10 ounces romaine, chopped (about 3 hearts of romaine)
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
• 8 ounces feta cheese, cubed
• 6 ounces Kalamata olives, drained

Directions:

1. Marinate the swordfish, prepare the peppers and onions
Season the swordfish steaks with the salt and pepper. Mix the olive oil, lemon juice, zest, oregano, and sugar in a zip top bag. Add the swordfish to the bag and massage the marinade onto the fish through the plastic. Squeeze the air out of the bag, seal it, and store in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to 1 hour, turning occasionally. Season the peppers and onions with the salt, and let rest at room temperature until it is time to grill.

2. Set up the grill
Preheat the grill, brush the grate clean, then set up a two-level fire—half the grill on medium-high for the swordfish, the other half on medium-low for the peppers.

3. Prepare the salad
While the grill pre-heats, get the salad ready. In a small bowl, whisk the lemon juice, zest, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar, garlic, thyme, and olive oil to make a vinaigrette. Add the cucumber to the vinaigrette and toss to coat. Let the cucumber marinate in the vinaigrette until it is time to toss the salad.

Put the romaine in a large bowl, then top with the tomatoes, feta, and olives. Don't toss the salad yet—set it aside and let it wait.

4. Grill the swordfish, peppers and onions
Remove the swordfish from the marinade, let any excess drip off, and put the fish on the medium-high heat side of the grill. Put the peppers and onions on the medium-low heat side of the grill. On a gas grill, cook with the lid closed as much as possible; on charcoal, leave the lid open.

Cook the peppers and onions for 12 minutes, flipping after six minutes. The peppers and onions are done when they have softened and have charred around the edges.

Cook the fish for six to eight minutes, flipping after four minutes. The swordfish is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 130 degrees F. (If you don't have an instant-read thermometer, cut into the fish to check—it is done when cooked most of the way through, but still slightly translucent in the middle. Residual heat will cook the fish through while it rests.)

5. Finish the salad and serve
Trim off any burnt edges from the peppers and onions, then cut into thin strips. Add the peppers and onions to the bowl with the salad, pour the vinaigrette and cucumbers over the top, and toss until everything is well coated with vinaigrette. Serve by filling a plate with salad and topping with a swordfish steak.

Notes:

• Don't overcook the swordfish, or it will dry out. I cook it to just shy of medium, then let the residual heat from the grill finish cooking it through.
• Cook the swordfish with the skin on, then trim it off before serving. The skin is too tough to eat, but it adds a little extra flavor to the swordfish while cooking.

This post is part of the BlogHer Light & Fresh Summer Grilling series, which includes 100 percent editorial content presented by a participating sponsor. Our advertisers do not produce editorial content. This post is made possible by Michelob ULTRA Light Cider and BlogHer.

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