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Sicilian Swordfish

A baked swordfish steak topped with a tomato-anchovy sauce and lemon rind.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Olive and swordfish work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 48 recipes mention both. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

The recipe

Oven350°F
Time15 minutes

Ingredients

Contains: fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. In skillet, heat oil.

  2. Add onion, sauté 5 minutes.

  3. Stir in anchovy, cook 5 minutes.

  4. Add tomatoes, ¾ tsp salt, ⅛ tsp pepper, oregano and pepper flakes, simmer uncovered 10 minutes.

Prepare the fish

  1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease a baking dish.

  2. Season swordfish with the remaining salt and pepper. Place fish in the baking dish.

Bake and serve

  1. Spoon the tomato sauce over the swordfish.

  2. Bake 15 minutes or until the fish flakes.

  3. Garnish with the grated lemon rind.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Olive + swordfishtop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together48 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together14,164 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Tomato + oreganotop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,767 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Pepper + lemontop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together27,039 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Oregano + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together784 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Swordfish steaks
Firm flesh that holds its shape and turns moist and flaky when baked.
Whole tomatoes
Form the sauce base, adding moisture, acidity and body that coats the fish.
Onion
Softens while sautéing, adding sweetness and savory depth to the sauce.
Anchovy fillets
Melt into the oil, adding deep savory flavor without a distinctly fishy taste.
Olive oil
Carries flavor from the aromatics and adds fat for a rich sauce.

The step that matters

Simmering the tomato sauce. Simmering uncovered lets excess water evaporate, concentrating flavor and thickening the sauce so it clings to the fish instead of pooling in the dish.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, anchovy, tomato, pepper, oregano, swordfish, lemon):

  1. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  2. Spinachbetter flavor fit
  3. Carrotbetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, anchovy, tomato, pepper, oregano, swordfish, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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