I hadn’t made chicken scarpariello – literally shoemaker’s chicken – and had a taste for it. I also happened to have a packet of swordfish steaks in the freezer, and got to thinking that the combination of white wine, fresh and pickled peppers might could be a very good thing to do to frozen seafood.
I was correct. The three swordfish steaks, breaded in a bit of seasoned flour and browned in oil before being finished in a white wine sauce made for a pretty terrific dinner with garlic spinach and yellow rice.
Note: if you can’t find pickled cherry peppers (look in the Italian specialty section of your market), add 1/4 teaspoon of dried red pepper flakes with the garlic.
INGREDIENTS
•Swordfish steaks*
•Salt and pepper
•Seasoned flour
•2 tbsp olive oil
•1 cup chopped red, yellow and/or orange peppers – I used 8 baby peppers
•1/4 cup hot pickled cherry peppers,
drained and chopped
•4 cloves garlic, chopped or thinly sliced
•1/2 cup dry white wine
•1/2 cup veggie stock**
•1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
•2 tbsp juice from the pepper jar
Seasoned Flour:
•1 cup flour
•2 tsp dry mustard
•1 tsp pepper
•1 tsp paprika
•1 tsp salt
•1/2 tsp garlic powder
•1/2 tsp onion powder
•1/2 tsp ground ginger
•1/2 tsp Aleppo pepper
•1/4 tsp celery salt
•1/4 tsp dried thyme
•1/4 tsp dried basil
•1/4 tsp dried oregano
•1/4 tsp dried parsley
*My packet of frozen swordfish had three steaks, but this recipe will easily handle four or even six steaks to feed a bigger crowd.
**I used some leftover home made corn stock and thought it worked a treat.
Whisk the flour and seasonings together, then add the swordfish, turning to lightly coat both sides of the steaks.
Warm a large skillet over medium high heat and, when the skillet is hot, add one tablespoon of the olive oil, tilting the pan to coat the bottom.
Add the floured swordfish steaks, cook for three minutes, then turn over and cook for another three minutes, until both sides are nicely browned. Remove to a plate to rest.
Add the last tablespoon of olive oil to whatever juices remain in the pan, then add the peppers and garlic and sauté for five minutes, tossing and turning often.
Add the wine and reduce for 1 minute, scraping up any tasty browned bits from the bottom of the pan. I was using my Scanpan, so there really weren’t any crispity bits stuck to the bottom of the pan, but the peppers and garlic had some nicely browned edges, so it all worked out.
Add the veggie stock and the swordfish, bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for a few more minutes to reduce the sauce and finish cooking the fish.
Sprinkle with parsley and drizzle that pickled pepper juice over all, stirring a bit to combine all those flavors together.
Serve the swordfish with the pan sauce.
This made for a very tasty dinner for the two of us, with leftovers for me to enjoy a kinda spiffy lunch the next day.
Note: you could remove the skin from the swordfish steaks and cut them into chunks (or use any other firm fleshed white fish) before flouring and browning, making more of a shoemaker’s fish stew, and I wouldn’t say you’d be wrong. In fact, I may try that next…