Rita’s swordfish rolls “a ghiotta”.
Today I want to offer you a typical main course from my city, Messina.
You should know that in our Strait of Messina, swordfish is caught from May to September with the characteristic boats with walkways and antennas.
This fish is the King of Messina cuisine, and there isn’t a family that hasn’t had or won’t have a relative on these boats.
My husband has been practicing this fishing for many generations.
The rolls or skewers can simply be grilled or “a Ghiotta”, the classic sauce with capers and olives. Besides the traditional cooking, you will also find the Bimby cooking method.

Thought for you:

Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Medium
Preparation time: 40 Minutes
Portions: 4
Cooking methods: Slow cooking, Stove, Cooking with food processor
Cuisine: Regional Italian
Region: Sicily
Seasonality: All seasons

467.16 Kcal

calories per serving

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Energy 467.16 (Kcal)
Carbohydrates 34.62 (g) of which sugars 2.49 (g)
Proteins 27.84 (g)
Fat 20.93 (g) of which saturated 3.87 (g)of which unsaturated 5.60 (g)
Fibers 5.32 (g)
Sodium 997.50 (mg)

Indicative values for a portion of 300 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA^* and FoodData Central^** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.

^* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ^** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

Ingredients

Let’s go shopping

11 oz swordfish (thin slices from the belly)
2/3 cup breadcrumbs
2 tsp pine nuts
2 tsp salted capers (already desalted)
4 green olives in brine (pitted)
1.8 oz caciocavallo cheese (ragusano dop)
to taste salt
to taste pepper
1 bunch chopped parsley
1 sprig wild fennel (chopped)
1.1 oz pecorino romano cheese
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1.4 oz Tropea red onion
2 tbsp salted capers (desalted)
2 tbsp green olives in brine (pitted)
1 sprig wild fennel (chopped)
1 stalk celery
1 l tomato puree

Tools

What we need to make

Bowl
Food processor
Skewers
Pan – non-stick (large)

Preparation: Rita’s Swordfish Rolls “a ghiotta”

Let’s prepare the skewers with the rolls

The first thing you need to do is make sure the fish is super fresh.
Have your trusted fishmonger serve you thin slices of belly, which is the belly part.
You will immediately recognize these slices because they have an almost triangular shape that facilitates wrapping them around themselves.
Soak the capers and olives for 10 minutes, and rinse them well to remove the excess salt, and wash the wild fennel.
Pour 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons of water, the pitted olives, the capers, and a branch of fennel into the food processor and chop everything.
Set aside.
Season the filling: in a bowl put the seasoned breadcrumbs with: salt and pepper, chopped parsley, pine nuts, finely cut Ragusano DOP cheese.
Pour in the mixture we chopped in the food processor, and mix. If it still seems dry, add a few more drops of water.
Spread all the slices on a work surface.
On top of each one, place a heap of filling, and starting from the widest part, fold the tips inwards and roll.
If you want to know how I preserve fennel in all seasons, click here to see
If you want to see how I preserve capers for the whole year, click here
Place in a rather large pan, the chopped onion, chopped celery, and fennel, and the olives. Add the extra virgin olive oil and let it fry for 3 minutes.
After the time has passed, pour in the tomato puree, mix, and let it cook for 5 minutes with the lid on.
After 5 minutes, put the skewers in the sauce, and let them cook for 2 minutes on each side.
After the time has passed, you can serve them hot and with the sauce, you can dress the pasta.
Here are Rita’s Swordfish Rolls “a ghiotta” ready.
Make the rolls as indicated above, and the rest you will do with the Bimby.
Put the chopped onion, celery, and fennel into the bowl and chop for 10 sec speed 5, then collect with the spatula, and add the capers, pitted olives, and oil. Cook for 3 min at 212°F reverse speed 1
At this point, add the tomato puree into the bowl, stir with the spatula.
Place the swordfish skewers in the varoma and cover.
Cook at varoma for 20 min. reverse speed 1.
At the end of cooking, place the skewers on a serving plate and cover with the sauce. Here are Rita’s Swordfish Rolls “a ghiotta”