Braised Swordfish, Puerto Rican Style

I'm calling this recipe "Puerto Rican Style" because it seems that every time my mom makes Puerto Rican food (my step-dad is Boriqua), she uses the same sauce components: onions, bell pepper, tomatoes and green olives...and Puerto Ricans love their green olives! This is a very simple, yet quite flavorful tomato-base sauce for the fish and steamed rice goes superb as a side. Make sure the skillet you use has a tight fitting lid for it. And since I'm going with the feast of the seven fishes theme for Christmas, this is another good and easy recipe in case you're contemplating eating seafood for the holiday.

INGREDIENTS (serves 2)

• Olive oil
• Kosher salt
• Fresh ground black pepper
• 2 Swordfish steaks, skin and bones removed, about 3/4" thick and 4 to 5 ounces each
• 1 white onion, sliced into half moons
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 Plum tomatoes, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 1 (8oz) can tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup water
• Juice of half of a lime
• Handful of Goya green olives, pitted and cut into rounds
• A few tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley

DIRECTIONS

Salt and pepper your swordfish steaks and set aside.

Heat a large skillet on medium heat and add 1 tablespoon olive oil and sweat the onion and garlic for 5 to 8 minutes.

Raise heat to medium-high and add chopped tomatoes, diced green bell pepper, bay leaf and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt and a few grinds of black pepper, wine, water, tomato sauce, lime juice and olives and bring to a simmer. Simmer gently for another 10 minutes. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper, if needed.

Add your swordfish steaks to the sauce, slightly submerging them into the sauce and cover and simmer until fish is opaque throughout, about 8 to 10 minutes. (I gently turned my swordfish steaks over after 5 minutes--but you don't have to).

Before serving, remove bay leaf. Serve fish with some of the tomato sauce and sprinkle some chopped parsley over it.

PS: You can also use this braising sauce to braise shrimp, or flounder or cod, or even lobster tails!