Photo: Swordfish Balls and Red Gravy Recipe
Ingredients
Swordfish Balls:
- 1 pound swordfish
- 3/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs, soaked in 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
- 1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
- 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 egg
- Salt and ground pepper
Red Gravy:
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh capers, rinsed if salted
- 1/4 cup pitted Italian black olives, quartered
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- One 28-ounce can crushed to tomatoes
- 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
- Salt and ground pepper
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- Pasta, for serving
Directions
For the swordfish balls: Remove the skin from the swordfish and cut into chunks. Place the chunks in a food processor and pulse until the texture resembles ground beef. Place in a large bowl and add the breadcrumbs, parsley, cheese, garlic, egg and some salt and pepper. Mix well. Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
For the red gravy: Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the garlic and onions and saute until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the capers, olives and tomato paste and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes, fresh basil and salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer on low for 30 minutes.
Remove the swordfish mixture from the refrigerator. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Form the mixture into balls a little smaller than a tennis ball. You should get about 12 balls. Place into the frying pan and fry to golden brown on each side, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove and add these balls to your gravy. Simmer for another 30 minutes. Serve the swordfish balls and gravy over your favorite pasta.
Notes
A viewer or guest of the show, who may not be a professional cook, provided this recipe. The Food Network Kitchens chefs have not tested this recipe and therefore, we cannot make representation as to the results.
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By lakenrose08
on May 03, 2013
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yes, it was very tasty and easy to make. my fishballs were a little too dry, but i think i overprossesd them. next time i will use a kaiser roll soaked in milk, squeezed out and crumbled up and add some lemon juice to fishmixture and not so much cheese.i also added 1/4 teasp. of cayenne pepper to the sauce. the fishmeat is very mild and dense, one would think it is chicken.sauce was excellent.
By jennylove72203
flemington, NJ
on January 22, 2013
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I saw this prepared on Sunny Anderson's show, and knew immediately that I'd have to find & try this recipe. I did, and LOVED IT! As I was preparing them, I was afraid the meatballs - I mean fishballs - were going to be too fishy based on the smell, but they weren't, they mellowed out perfectly. They were tender yet substantial, and a delicious alternative to the classic meatball. Family enjoyed these over pasta, but will definitely try them as an appi, ie. mini's on toothpicks served with sauce; or even as a sandwich, thinking meatball parm gone gourmet. The gravy was also delicious, and really like how the capers & olives compliment the fishballs. I did swap out the crushed tomatoes for hand-crushed whole peeled san marzano's, but other than that, followed the recipe exactly; it was very easy and everything turned out beautifully. I really couldn't be happier with this recipe, It's everything I'd hoped it would be. Sincere thanks for sharing.
By Peter07
boston,ma
on December 22, 2012
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These are awesome every Christmas, Lucille is my mom. I made them recently and despite the heresy involved with changing her time honored recipe here are a few suggestions. 1 upgrade the tomatoes for sauce to the best e.g San Marzano you can find, 2 add a chopped fennel bulb and sauté along with the onions, 3 add dried currants along with the olives and capers, the hint of sweetness helps set off those other flavors. 4 Let the swordfish skins you save from the grinding process cook down in the sauce for awhile, take them out when you add the swordfish balls.
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