Simply seared fish gets briny finish with caper-olive salsa

This 20-minute recipe from Susie Theodorou’s cookbook “Mediterranean,” originally published in 2018 and rereleased in the United States in 2022, is just the kind of thing I like to have in my back pocket for weeknight suppers.

Yes, you have to gather a couple of fresh herbs for the salsa, but the rest is pantry- and freezer-friendly, making it an easy lift after a long day.

The recipes featured in her cookbook were drawn from her life, writes Theodorou, who was born in London but says she was raised eating as if she “grew up in a Mediterranean village” due to her Greek Cypriot parents.

The book includes recipes from her family and her travels suitable for celebrations and family dinners, but I was drawn to what she calls “midweek dinner” dishes.

For example, she includes straightforward instructions for cooking whole fish as well as pan-searing, grilling and roasting fillets and then offers four simple ways to top them: a sunflower seed gremolata; a fennel and parsley salsa; an olive, chili and parsley topping; and the caper and olive salsa that I’m featuring here.

As you would expect from the experienced food stylist, each turn of the page reveals another tempting photo, but you don’t have to be a professional stylist to make this simple dish look great. The chopped olives and capers married with fresh herbs and olive oil create a blend that is not only big-flavored and briny, but lovely shades from pale yellow to vibrant green.

You could spoon it over just about any white-fleshed fish you like. Here, I made it with easy-to-cook and -find cod fillets. Those fillets are rubbed with a little oil, sprinkled with pepper, then seared in a hot skillet with more oil and a squeeze of lemon juice. The salty salsa does the heavy lifting flavorwise.

Theodorou recommends removing the fish from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before cooking, rubbing it lightly with oil and making sure the nonstick pan is well oiled and hot. I can imagine this salsa spooned over freshly caught fish, grilled outdoors and then eaten on a patio overlooking the sea, but it also brought a smile to my face using store-bought fillets, seared on my apartment stove and served at my dining table.