Filet of Sole With Olive Tapenade Recipe

Both the Accidental Locavore and her husband saw this recipe in a Saveur newsletter and thought it looked interesting. Surprisingly, there were almost no pitted olives in the fridge, but there was a bit of the olive salad mix they use for muffalettas in New Orleans, so I added that to the olives we did have and it made a great tapenade. It’s really quick and you can make the tapenade ahead of time. I made the full amount of tapenade and only enough fish for the two of us.

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ cup pitted olives (use a mix, or just your favorites)
• 2 tablespoons parsley, coarsely chopped
• 1 large garlic clove, coarsely chopped
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons capers
• 2 anchovy filets
• 1 tomato, cored and chopped
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ¾ pound fillet of sole

In the work bowl of a food processor, add the oil, olives, parsley, garlic, vinegar, capers, anchovies, tomato and pepper. Process until finely chopped, taste and add salt and pepper as needed, set aside. Heat the butter in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the sole and cook, turning once, until golden brown and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Top each fillet with tapenade. Serve and enjoy!

My verdict: This was super easy and delicious. I added the juice of half a lemon to the fish as it finished cooking (force of habit). What’s great about this is that the recipe makes a decent amount of tapenade, so you’ll have extra for another night (or some bruschetta). It would work well on other, thicker white fish (cod, for example) and would also be a nice topping to some broiled or grilled lamb chops. Think of tapenade like pesto — you can’t really mess it up and it takes well to improvisation, so have fun and let me know what you think.