Neapolitan Pasta With Swordfish

By Florence Fabricant

Neapolitan Pasta With Swordfish
Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
Total Time
40 minutes
Rating
4(280)
Notes
Read community notes

The lusty foods and intense wines of southern Italy provide inspiration to spare for cooks and connoisseurs. San Marzano tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, succulent olives, tender pastas and fragrant olive oils, alone or combined, spell sheer enjoyment. The roots of red-sauce Italian, ever popular in the United States, are in the south — in Campania and Naples (its capital city) as well as in Puglia and Basilicata. This recipe is a riff on the traditional pasta alla puttanesca, with tomato, capers, olives and garlic, but without the anchovies. The recipe goes bigger on the fish front, with chunks of seared swordfish to bolster the mixture with meaty, briny notes.

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Ingredients

Yield:6 servings
  • 4tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1¼pounds swordfish steaks, skin removed, in ¾-inch cubes
  • Salt and ground black pepper
  • 3tablespoons capers in vinegar or salt, large ones if possible, rinsed and dried
  • 2tablespoons thinly sliced garlic
  • 1½cups canned San Marzano tomatoes, chopped
  • 18pitted Kalamata olives
  • 1pound short pasta like casarecce, cavatelli, strozzapreti or penne
  • Grated zest of 1 lemon
  • 1tablespoon minced flat-leaf parsley leaves
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)

524 calories; 18 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 10 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 61 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 3 grams sugars; 29 grams protein; 568 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Place a large sauté pan (4 quarts or more) on high heat, add 3 tablespoons of the oil and when it’s mighty hot (a piece of fish should sizzle) add the swordfish, spreading the pieces around in the pan in a single layer. Sear about 30 seconds until just starting to brown. Use a spatula to turn the fish, and cook another minute or so. Season with salt and pepper and remove to a bowl. Reduce heat to medium.

  2. Step 2

    Add another tablespoon of the oil and the capers and cook a couple of minutes until the capers start to crisp and brown. Turn the heat to low, stir in the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes until it barely starts to color. Add the tomatoes and olives. Cook gently, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes to combine the flavors, then turn off the heat. While the tomatoes are simmering bring a pot of well-salted water to a boil for the pasta. Cook the pasta until it’s al dente. Remove 1 cup of pasta water, then drain the pasta and add it to the sauté pan.

  3. Step 3

    Reheat the pasta in the sauce on medium-low heat, folding everything together with a big spoon. Add a half cup or more of the pasta water to give the tomatoes a nice saucelike consistency, stirring until the pasta is well coated. Gently fold in the swordfish and the lemon zest, and stir until you have everything well mixed and heated through. Add more pepper if you wish; the mixture is not likely to demand salt. Transfer to a warm serving dish, scatter parsley on top and serve.

Ratings

4 out of 5
280 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

Marianna P

This sauce was really good but I had a few issues with the quantities in the recipe. 1lb of pasta is WAY too much for the amount of sauce the recipe makes. I used 12oz of pasta and that was still too much and I didn’t end up having enough sauce. I also don’t like that the recipe says to cube the swordfish. Next time I make this I’m gonna sear the swordfish steaks whole and then shred them up before throwing them back in the sauce so that the fish can mix with the sauce more uniformly.

Mike M

Best meal of 2019 so far. Subbed scallops for swordfish and a ton of torn basil for parsley. Added anchovy paste and healthy pinch of crushed red pepper w/ garlic. About half a cup /- of pasta water in sauce. Don’t rinse the the olives. Their vinegar brings a great flavor.

Gary Schons

Great recipe but needed a bit of a kick which was supplied by red chilie pepper flakes.

jss

Had some leftover clam sauce and tomato sauce... cooked the swordfish, deglazed the pan and added the sauces, olives, and handful of cooked shrimp. Awesome!

mcalon

I’ve done this twice and another very easy and flavorful meal. Both times I cooked it for two people. I like less sauce and my wife likes more. While I agree that the sauce is a bit scant as written for those who enjoy a lot of sauce, we cooked 6 oz of pasta and had enough leftover sauce for a second meal. If I were doing this for 4 people I would likely double the tomatoes.

Jennie Phipps

We had swordfish last night. I bought it at Costco and had to take a big piece -- about a pound and a half. That's way too much for my husband and me. It was delicious, but there were tons left over. Tonight, I made this with the remainder. It was really good. Followed the directions, although my husband wanted more lemon, I also cut down on the pasta -- but not enough. Next time, I'll cook a third as much.

Aimee

Wonderful flavors! For two eaters I used 6oz pasta & about 2 tbsp oil, otherwise followed recipe as written with full amounts of all the other ingredients. Next time I would use less swordfish and fewer olives but otherwise the amounts were perfect. I can see the sauce feeling scanty for a full pound of pasta but I think it would probably be fine for 10-12oz using more pasta water to thin it out.

Gobluecsa

Used leftover penne pasta...terrific!

Heather

What a wonderful recipe! I had a pint of cherry tomatoes to use up so subbed for the can of San Marzano (with water added). I took the reader recommendations and added anchovies and red pepper flakes with the garlic. My version may have been less saucy but it was delicious though I look forward to trying it with the canned tomatoes. Don’t swap parsley for basil. There was a wonderful savoriness that the parsley added which went well with the swordfish. Loved the lemon zest!

Jakub

added red pepper chili flakes, more tomatoes (full can of San Marzano), some finely chopped peppers (at the start), more lemon zest and was excellent

Rick R.

I doubled the sauce ingredients to get 4 servings of sauce for a single course pasta dinner. I also followed other comments and added a bottle of clam juice, some fresh Basil and red pepper flake. Finally, I added about 3" of anchovy paste. This is basically a puttanesca sauce base with added ingredients to pair better with fish. The San Marzano tomatoes really work here, giving a rich sauce.

ZeeLikeZebra

Excellent dish. I usually add anchovies and white wine in my Puttanesca so I added 4 anchovy filets to the oil before the garlic and 1/4 cup white wine before the tomatoes and olives. So good.

jim in japan

Delicious. I find that very lightly salting the swordfish before cooking helps bring out the flavor. Also adding a bit of salt with the tomatoes.

Karen L Davis

Good. Thought the swordfish would be easier to handle for the brief cook uncut. Cut into smaller pieces just before all ingredients combined. As usual, disagree with the NYT-recommended sauce:pasta ratio. Did half the pasta (8 oz) for the 1.5c tomatoes. At mix-in, didn't use all the pasta. Next time I'd add at least 0.5c more tomatoes. I would also cut the olives into smaller pieces. As is, each is the occasional weirdly salty mouthful. No need to drain the capers; brine helped to deglaze pan.

Tom

Delicious. After reading comments I added twice the tomatoes and used 1.5 lbs of swordfish. Came out great. Well liked at the table and a nice way to feature on sale swordfish I'll cook it again soon

MaryBretired

Wow! Almost followed recipe and the result was spectacular. Served 2. 1 small swordfish steak, cooked whole and then cubed small, sweet onion, lots of garlic, anchovy & oil, home canned tomato purée, a tiny amt. of ancho chili powder as I cook for a spice sensitive. Black olives &.brine is KEY. Stirred the fish in just before the pasta was cooked. Served over bow ties, topped with chopped basil & parm.

Kymmore

Took the advice of your reader and added the anchovy paste and pepper flakes. Excellent!

Nancy

I made this with 8 oz orecchiette and that was the perfect amount of pasta. Added a small shake of crushed red pepper as suggested; nice idea.

Marianna P

This sauce was really good but I had a few issues with the quantities in the recipe. 1lb of pasta is WAY too much for the amount of sauce the recipe makes. I used 12oz of pasta and that was still too much and I didn’t end up having enough sauce. I also don’t like that the recipe says to cube the swordfish. Next time I make this I’m gonna sear the swordfish steaks whole and then shred them up before throwing them back in the sauce so that the fish can mix with the sauce more uniformly.

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