Barbecued swordfish chop with tomato and peach salad

SERVES 4

“When butchering swordfish we leave a quarter of the top loin on the bone and remove the other three loins,” says Niland. “By leaving a quarter on the bone, you then have a unique cut of fish, which essentially becomes a standing rib of swordfish.”

1 x 1.5 kg swordfish steak on the bone (ideally aged 20 days)

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

TOMATO & PEACH SALAD

175 ml extra-virgin olive oil

50 ml chardonnay vinegar or white-wine vinegar with a pinch of sugar

½ vanilla bean, seeds scraped

3 large ox heart tomatoes (beef tomatoes), sliced

3 white peaches, sliced

1 To prepare the charcoal grill, make sure the grill is hot and the charcoal has cooked down to hot embers. Alternatively, preheat barbecue to high.

2 To make the salad, combine olive oil, vinegar and vanilla in a bowl and whisk to combine. Season tomatoes with salt and pepper and arrange on a serving plate with peaches. Spoon dressing over tomatoes and peaches. Set aside.

3 Preheat oven to 100°C. 4 To grill the swordfish steak, start by placing the chop on a wire rack set inside a tray. Brush flesh with a little olive oil and season liberally with sea salt. Gently warm in oven until the internal temperature is 35°C when measured with a probe thermometer. The fish should still look very rare.

5 Transfer steak to grill rack and cook over a very high heat for 2 minutes on each side, including the skin and bone side, being careful not to burn the skin. Check the internal temperature, it needs to reach 55°C. Leave to rest for 5 minutes. Once rested, brush steak with a little more olive oil, season with sea salt and pepper, then carve the eye of the muscle from the bone. Slice steak into thin slices then arrange on a plate with the bone. Serve with tomato and peach salad. ➤