Fish With Sizzling Olive Butter Recipe (2024)

Variation. Just as the butter/oil start to sizzle, hit the pan with a good shot of white or rose wine (whatever you’d like to serve with the fish). The wine will boil off within less than a minute, but will contribute real depth. Go on to add the olives, and other aromatics. You will scent the difference. Easy step to another level of flavor.

from article: Look for pieces that are all about an inch thick so they cook evenly, but not too quickly, giving the olives and garlic a chance to mellow in the oven. If you can find only thinner fillets, cook the olive butter for an extra minute or two on the stovetop, then take a few minutes off the cooking time once you add the fish. This will keep it from overcooking, which even a bath of melted butter cannot fix.

This recipe is one of my favorite ways to cook fish. I love to use snapper filets for this, although it is a bit thinner than cod or haddock.OK, so I know many of you will see this next statement as heresy, but if you can filet a fish, buy fresh snapper at Costco. They come either 3 or 4 to the package and are very fresh. Filet them and save the bones and heads for fish broth. The resulting filets will be done at 2 minutes a side and you will get raves from your dinner companions!

A closer look at the photo suggests that those are not nuts but sliced olives. But I think almonds would be good addition here. "Confusion is the first step on the way to enlightenment."

I married a Philistine who loathes olives. Can anyone suggest a substitute - for the olives, not the husband?

Most stores with an olive bar will have a mixed pitted olive selection. I used cod, and stirred some baby spinach into the pan for the last 3-5 minutes to wilt in the butter. I served the fish pieces on top of the spinach. This is a recipe trifecta: easy, tasty, fast.

Tip: when the filet has a thin end, fold that partially over the rest of the filet to make the whole piece more or less the same thickness. Use care, when flipping over to cook the other side, to maintain the fold.

I made this pretty much according to the recipe, but halved the butter and oil, since it was for two. Used Trader Joe's frozen cod, kalamata and castelvetrano olives (wish I could find these pitted). The fennel seed is the key to the flavor; it's really good! I didn't have dill and forgot the cilantro, but we were wishing we had crusty bread to soak up the (butter) sauce. Served with simply cooked green beans. A keeper of a fish recipe.

Absolutely loved this recipe - we used Castelvetrano olives only with cod and it was perfect; I think Kalamata or something darker would have overwhelmed the fish. Was surprised by how well the cilantro/dill/lime combo at the end worked too.

Shocked by how good (and easy) this was... Used haddock because it was all the store had and on sale; added the tiniest splash of the white I was drinking just to lend a little more liquid. Left out the dill at the end bc I didn't want to spend more money on more fresh herbs, but generous cilantro was more than enough. Really pleasantly surprised at how well lime played with this... my instinct would have been to use lemon but the lime makes it unexpectedly transcendent.

Better still: a shot of good dry white vermouth like Dolin; or a splash of Ricard.

We thought this was terrific - used some beautiful halibut and 10 minutes for cooking time was perfect. The olive butter is such a great contrast with the fish. Served with broccoli rabe risotto - lovely meal.

Manzanillo olives are very similar to castelvetrano and come pitted in cans. Cheaper too. To make up for the slight difference in taste I added a splash of fruity pinot noir rose and some sliced fresh fennel. Made just the sauce to have over leftover salmon. Wonderful!

Do you have a source for that? I'm pretty confident Costco does not add preservatives to it's fresh fish.

Why? The whole point here is the aromatic garlic. You've got a nice recipe for fish almandine but it's not the recipe here.

Made this twice. First time as is with Castelvetrano olives. Excellent. Second time made the sauce and poured it over thin homemade chicken cutlets. Make sure you have some tasty bread to sop up any extra sauce. Yum.

Not my favorite. The olives overpower everything.

so easy and delicious. I find fish difficult to fish but this is a solution to that conundrum

Delicious with tuna!

This is a must try. The epitome of great peasant food! To me it's a cross of Piccata and classic Scampi. Made with shrimp and plenty of garlic sliced lengthways, don't skimp on the butter or oil and use good EVOO letting the olives and garlic braise in the fat until just before golden then add the shrimp for a scant 6-8 minutes in the oven. For the folks who don't like olives I would suggest a combination of capers and artichoke hearts to get similar texture and brininess. Easy and so good!

Oh my god, we’ve made this multiple times, but tonight I reserved 1/2 cup pasta water and added it to the butter olive mix after plating the fish. Served with broccoli, hands down best version yet!

This was fantastic. I don't like cooking fish in the house so used a cast iron skillet on the grill. Loved that the olives got a little crispy!

Great simple recipe! Thanks, Melissa! I The suggestion of snapper, below, is a very good one. I absolutely despise the new formatting. Very irritating for those of us who copy the text and put it in our own recipe format (with acknowledgment of source, of course!). Do the steps really need to be numbered?

Toasted whole coriander and fennel seeds, along with a bit of coarse crushed black peppercorn before grinding and adding to the prep. Had half the olives the recipe calls for, so stretched it out with drained capers. Let the butter brown before adding the fish. Subtle changes but they seemed to work to good effect on this nice, bright dish.

Made this tonight with salmon, peas and brown rice. Absolutely delicious, and my 13 year old raved. Would definitely make again. Husband did not like the olives, so we ate his share.

I followed previous poster’s recommendations and hit the olive oil and butter with a glass of dry Sardinian white. I also added a handful of walnuts with the olives, subbed the cilantro for parsley and the lime for lemon. I left out the dill, but I don’t think it was missing. I made this with Chilean sea bass and it was divine.

Responding to JMR, my husband also dislikes olives. Capers are a great substitute. They have bright crisp flavor and they are tart and citrusy. I use them in a lot of ways with fish and they are a perfect substitute in this recipe, IMO.

Add wine to sauté sauce after removing fish to plate

We made this using thawed frozen tuna filets, with just castelvetrano and kalamata olives. It was outstanding, and a little bit of leftovers heated up deliciously.

Great recipe - made exactly as written, went with cod and coriander. It was delicious and will make it again soon!