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Huachinango a la veracruzana
Red snapper in tomato sauce
Veracruz red snapper baked in tomato sauce with olives, capers and pickled chillies
In the port of Veracruz, fish a la veracruzana shows the city's centuries of trade with Spain: red snapper baked in a sauce of tomato, onion and garlic with green olives, capers, bay and herbs, sharpened with pickled yellow chillies. It is served at seafront restaurants on Sundays and is a favourite on Christmas Eve, when many families eat fish. The sauce is tangy, briny and gently hot, and the fish stays moist under it. Serve it with plain white rice to soak up the sauce. Chef's tip: cook the sauce down until thick before the fish goes in; the fish releases juices as it bakes and will thin it out.
- Total time
- 65 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
For the fish
- 4 red snapper filletsabout 180 g each, skin on; or a 1.5 kg whole snapper, cleaned
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- 1 tsp salt
For the sauce
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 white onionthinly sliced
- 4 cloves garlicsliced
- 2 ¼ lb ripe tomatoespeeled and chopped, or two 400 g tins
- ½ tsp dried Mexican oregano
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- 2 ⅞ oz green olivespitted and halved
- 2 tbsp capersrinsed
- 4 pickled yellow chillies or pickled jalapeñosplus 2 tbsp of their brine
- ½ tsp salt
To serve
- 1 handful flat-leaf parsley (optional)chopped
- cooked white rice (optional)
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Method
0/7 doneStep 1: Season 4 red snapper fillets with 2 tbsp lime juice and 1 tsp salt on both sides. Cover and keep in the fridge while you make the sauce.
Step 2: Heat 4 tbsp olive oil in a wide pan over a medium heat. Cook 1 white onion until soft and translucent, then add 4 cloves garlic for 1 minute without browning.
8 minStep 3: Add 2 ¼ lb ripe tomatoes, 2 bay leaves, ½ tsp dried Mexican oregano and ½ tsp dried thyme. Simmer, stirring now and then, until the sauce is thick and no longer watery. The most common mistake is baking the fish in a thin sauce: it ends up stewed in pink water instead of coated in a rich sauce.
15 minStep 4: Stir in 2 ⅞ oz green olives, 2 tbsp capers, 4 pickled yellow chillies or pickled jalapeños with their brine and ½ tsp salt. Simmer 2 more minutes and taste: it should be tangy and briny.
2 minStep 5: Heat the oven to 400°F. Spread half the sauce in a baking dish, lay the fish on top skin side down and spoon the rest of the sauce over.
Step 6: Bake until the fish is opaque all the way through and flakes easily with a fork: about 15 minutes for fillets, 30–35 minutes for a whole fish.
15 minStep 7: Scatter with 1 handful flat-leaf parsley and serve straight from the dish with cooked white rice.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 340 kcal
- Protein
- 37 g
- Carbs
- 14 g
- Fat
- 15 g
- Fibre
- 4 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does huachinango a la veracruzana take?
- About 65 minutes in total: 20 minutes to prepare and 45 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of lime juice?
- Lemon juice, same amount.
- What can I use instead of white onion?
- 2 shallots per onion.
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