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Pan-Fried Cape Salmon with a Fresh Mediterranean Olive Topping

by | Aug 20, 2026 | Recipes, Blog | 0 comments

There’s something special about a long Sunday lunch with friends and family. Good food, plenty of chatting around the table and, ideally, a dish that tastes amazing without keeping you stuck in the kitchen all afternoon.

For our latest Sunday lunch, we made this fabulous pan-fried Cape Salmon, served with seared vegetables and a bright Mediterranean-style topping. It was colourful, fresh and full of flavour, and the Cape Salmon worked so well with all those lovely Mediterranean flavours.

Cape Salmon is a beautiful fish to cook at home. It has firm, meaty flesh and holds together really well in the pan, making it a great choice when you want to pan-fry your fish rather than bake it. It also has enough flavour of its own to stand up to a punchy topping, while still letting all those fresh ingredients shine.

the Cape Salmon

I like to pre-cut our Cape Salmon into portions before cooking it. Not only does this make the fish easier to handle in the pan, but it also means it is ready to go straight onto everyone’s plates once cooked.

Cape Salmon is quite forgiving because of its firm texture, but as with most fish, you don’t want to cook it for longer than necessary. Once the flesh is cooked through and flakes easily, take it out of the pan and get it onto the table while it’s still beautifully hot.

Method

  1. Pat the fish dry and season both sides with salt and pepper.
  2. Heat a little butter and oil in a frying pan over medium heat.
  3. Once hot, add the Cape Salmon portions, leaving enough room between each piece.
  4. Fry for approximately 4–6 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness of the fish.
  5. Once the Cape Salmon is cooked through and golden on the outside, remove it from the pan.Serve immediately with your fresh vegetables and spoon the Mediterranean-style topping generously over the fish.

Mediterranean-Style Olive Topping

This is where loads of flavour comes into the dish. The salty olives, sun-dried tomatoes, parmesan and anchovies are balanced with lemon, red wine vinegar and a touch of balsamic. Spoon it over the warm Cape Salmon just before serving, making sure you get plenty of those lovely chunky bits with each portion.

Ingredients

  • ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 garlic clove, finely grated or minced
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
  • ½ cup chopped olives
  • ⅓ cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes in oil
  • ¼ cup finely chopped red onion
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
  • ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, plus more to taste
  • ½ teaspoon lemon zest
  • Salt, to taste
  • Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • 4 anchovy fillets, finely chopped

Method

Add the olive oil, garlic, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice to a bowl and mix together. Add the olives, sun-dried tomatoes, red onion, parsley, Parmesan, lemon zest and finely chopped anchovies.

Give everything a good stir, season with salt and pepper and taste before adding any extra salt – the olives, Parmesan and anchovies already bring plenty of saltiness.

Let the topping sit for a little while before serving so all those flavours have time to come together. Once your Cape Salmon comes out of the pan, spoon the Mediterranean topping generously over the warm fish and serve with your fresh vegetables.

Recipe inspiration: This Mediterranean olive oil topping recipe comes from Natalie Rose Graham on Instagram. Find the full video here

Check out our other Cape Salmon recipes:

  1. Hi Jules, your newsletters are awesome, and I love the pictures and instructions you have posted on the website!! All…