Swordfish Skewers with Sweet & Sour Sauce

I love this dish – I had swordfish prepared this way for the first time at an outdoor grigliata near the sea in Trapani, Sicily, and I was hooked. Simple and delicious – it’s also a perfect addition to a holiday seafood feast. Swordfish is marvelous this way, but you can also substitute other firm fish, such as tuna or grouper; just be mindful that each fish has a different cooking time.
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Recipe – https://lidiasitaly.com/recipes/swordfish-skewers-glazed-sweet-sour-sauce/

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I’m here in the mountains of southern Italy and I [music] can hear the sea beckoning me Lydia cookish italana and I shall pious alro today it’s a seaside buffet and I have with me as I promised my grandson Miles. Hi Miles. >> Hi. >> All right. And you know we eat together, we cook together and we fish together. and he much rather be fishing, but today he’s cooking with grandma. And you like cooking with grandma? >> Yeah, I love it. >> You learn? >> I like fishing better, but [laughter] >> Okay, so we’re going to do some swordfish. You know, swordfish is great. And we’re going to do a skewer or swordfish. And first, what I’m going to do just to make a sauce before we prepare some balsamic vinegar. Simple balsamic vinegar like that. [music] You put it in a pan, put the heat on until it is about halfily reduced and becomes very syrupy. Just like that. Looks so syrupy like that. And this makes a great sauce. This recipe is simple. You can do it. And you can do it. So, we have here a whole selection of onions. And why I showed you these onions is because I want you to get here. These are pearl onions, the purple one and the white ones. You take the whole onion just as it is, like this, and you blanch it. [music] And you let it cool and it becomes like this. And once it becomes like this, they’re easy to clean. Just like that. You peel off the outside and get it nice like this. Why don’t you do one of them? I want to see you peel one onion. [music] Okay. Oh, you’re squeezing it out, huh? He’s cheating me. All right. Whatever. Whichever way you get it is done. It’s good. All right. So, uh, let’s put the onions. And these are bay leaves. You know, bay leaves. >> Yeah. >> We’ll put the bay leaves in. And we’ll use only as many as we we need. Let’s work on the swordfish. Okay. So, here we are with the swordfish steak. We haven’t yet gone fishing for swordfish. We’re going to have to do that. Swordfish is a big fish and you know where it really runs great in the Mediterranean on the coast. The town is Bara and Bara is known for their swordfish, their cooking of it and their fishing of it. And uh your next graduation will be to take you to Bara. So here I just the bloodline and one way of really knowing when the fish is fresh is to look at the bloodline and that it is nice and and bright. So, I’m looking at this. I’m going to make cubes because we’re going to put them on a skewer. I’m cutting it along the lines so that they don’t break on me. So, this chunks like this. What do you think? >> Yeah, they seem good. >> Yeah. Okay. And again, chunks like this. You try to make them all the same. Did you see me what I did? Do you want to do that? Okay. Go ahead. Clean the bloodline. And um Okay. And now let’s cut it [music] into chunks like that. Try to make them the same size. So this way we cook they cook [music] about the same. Okay. Now you take it all. You throw it right in there. So take [music] some salt. Season it all around. [music] And then let’s take some pepperonino. Not too much, but a little bit. You like spicy things? I like I like my fish a little bit spicy. >> Now, let’s take the olive oil. So, drizzle the olive oil. Some more. Some [music] more. Some more. Some more. Let’s see. Looks good. >> Yeah. >> Okay. And I would begin with the whole onion right here. And then uh I take the swordfish and you go [music] right here. And then the bay leaf, you fold it in half like that and you put it right here. So, it gives it flavor. So, another onion. Okay. Another piece of swordfish. Would you like to to do something like this for your friends when you gather? >> Definitely with um I know my friends all love steak. So, we can do some steak shish kebabs. >> Steak and then of course fish. >> Steak and fish. >> No. Well, sure. You got to give a selection, you know. And uh some some I like fish. And especially if you’re fishing it. >> Oh, yeah. You want to fe feature your catch, don’t you? >> Stray bass season’s coming up. >> Stray bass is coming in. Yeah. [music] Are we going to go together? >> Yeah. >> All right. Okay. Let me put one more fish. One here. And I think And this is great. We are going to go to the grill. So, what I would do is I would just oil the grill a little bit. >> Okay. >> While I get the fish ready, how would you put the fish? So, I would put it kind of just across. And once Go ahead. You put it one not too close to each other. Once you put the fish down there, you don’t move it. Go ahead. Good. You let it sort of seal off. Make the marks because if you turn it right away, you it might stick a little bit. So, you wanted to build a little crust there and make it happen. So, you are a freshman at what? >> Providence College. >> Providence College. And you love it there? >> Yeah, I love it. It’s been great so far. >> You’re right by the ocean there. You think you’re going to do some after school fishing? >> I mean, maybe if the season’s right. Well, we’ll see. >> When the season comes, I’ll come and visit and uh we’ll grill some. So, let’s see how we are doing here. Okay. So, Okay, that’s good. All right. Okay, that’s good. Turn this one. And you know, you don’t want to overcook the fish. So, we have to stand by. You know, you’re into uh social media. Grandma’s into social media. You follow me? >> I follow you. >> Yeah, you. >> You got more followers than me. [laughter] >> So, here I get some some questions. What do you think of this question? Who’s who’s Go ahead. Let [clears throat] me see from Canada said, “What type of fish are best cooked whole?” >> What fish do you like cooked whole? >> I guess um black bass. Yeah, that was really good cooked hole. I remember that. Remember we got we caught it with Billy. We brought it back and we cooked it whole. Yeah, >> we brought it right from the sea to your house and we ate it. It was really good. >> Yeah. Nothing like fresh fish. And what other whole fish do you like? >> Uh brunzino. >> Bronzino is very good. Yeah. Yeah. Red snapper. I happen to like a red snapper. So any fish that you would say it has to be about a pound and a half to about two and a half pounds. And that’s enough for two, three, four people. And you grill it slowly. Uh first hot so you build a nice crust. And and then you put it on the slower side and you let it finish cooking. You heard it from the fisherman. That’s good. Now pes means what? >> Fish. in Italian. >> Yeah. >> So tell them pes I’m also teaching them Italian vocabulary. So >> yeah pes fish in Italian. >> Absolutely. On the other hand pesa which is very similar means peach. So be careful between pes and pesca. Okay. This one looks nice. You like it? >> Yeah. >> Okay. And let’s see what else. Go ahead. You finish. >> Yeah. You can take that out. The other pieces I think are perfect. It’s, you know, as a chef, it’s good to identify, you know, what needs more temperature and what doesn’t and make the difference. Separate it. Bring the whole plate there, Miles. This looks pretty pretty good. Okay. So, let’s see which one. This one is nice and crunchy. You like this one? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Good for you. Good for me. M. And so you can just bring it to the table like that and just we’ll do a little drizzle of the balsamico. You know, you can even get artistic with it. Hh. >> Yeah, mine looks good, too. >> Let’s see. M. >> Really good. >> That’s some good swordfish. Yeah. You know there’s an old Italian saying and it says nili. You know what that means? >> Those who sleep don’t catch fish. >> You got it. So that means really, you know, you got to get up early in the morning and get the job done if you want to be ahead of the crowd. To learn more about Lydia, access to [music] videos, and to get recipes, tips, techniques, and much more, visit us online at [music] lydasitilly.com. [music]