Grilled Swordfish with Pesto & Rice

I have this friend named Hannah. She is energetic, funny, wicked smart, and totally stylish. She's also 12 and she thinks I am pretty darn cool. It makes me feel awesome to be loved by this sweet girl and one of the things that she loves best in the world, other than me, is fish...believe it or not! She wants to try every new kind of seafood that she can find and she's always up for a food adventure. One day, while shopping at Trader Joe's, Hannah "talked me into" buying swordfish so that I could cook for her and feed her. I had NO IDEA how to cook swordfish but I'm always up for a cooking adventure (especially when it means an extra happy kiddo), so off I went to the land of fish recipes to figure out what to do with it. The answer was...grill it! This afternoon we whipped up a tasty lunch. Here's what we ate:

Grilled Swordfish with Pesto & Rice

For the rice:
Just make some rice...nothing fancy :)

For the pesto:
1 box of basil from TJ's
1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
1/4 pine nuts (I also like walnuts so you can substitute!)
4 cloves fresh garlic, peeled and smashed
~1/2 c. olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

Put basil, cheese, nuts and garlic into a food processor. With processor running, drizzle in olive oil until the sauce has a good texture, less for a thicker sauce...more for a thinner sauce. Taste your pesto. Add salt & pepper or more cheese or more garlic...whatever you like!

For the fish:
2-4 one inch thick swordfish steaks (they come in two packs in the freezer section at TJ's)
olive oil
salt & pepper

Heat the grill. Rub the fish with oil & season with salt and pepper. Once the grill is hot, throw the fish on there. Let it cook 5 minutes on each side. Bring it inside and eat!

I plated this trio as follows: rice on the plate, fish on top of rice, spoonfuls of pesto running over rice & fish.


The fish was delicious and I am totally converted to swordfish! Even the crispy skin was good!!! And...Miss Hannah loved it! I got the full mouth nod with a goofy smile!!! Oh how I love happy kids!!!