How To Prepare Snapper Escovitch

Snapper Escovitch

Time:

25 minutes

This light, flaky fish, a favorite in the Caribbean, is made with whole snapper, but you may substitute use fillets for convenience. This dish uses gentle spices to let the flavor of the fish come through, but you can adjust it by increasing the amount of allspice or hot pepper if you choose for greater intensity. You can use Old Bay, jerk, or Cajun seasoning blends in place of the spice mixture in Step 1 if you're short on time or spices. After that, you can either make it into a sandwich (see Tip), serve it with sweet plantain fries, or eat it by itself as a light dinner. 

INGREDIENTS

Yield:

4 servings

2teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

1teaspoon garlic powder

½teaspoon ground ginger

1teaspoon coarse kosher salt, plus more to taste

1teaspoon black pepper

½cup vegetable oil, plus more as needed

4(6-ounce) skin-on snapper fillets or 2 pounds whole red snapper

1dry bay leaf

½teaspoon fresh ginger, grated

3small bell peppers (red, yellow, green or one of each), thinly sliced

1medium yellow onion, thinly sliced

1medium carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks

1Scotch bonnet chile, pierced

1tablespoon granulated sugar

1tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1teaspoon allspice berries or pickling spice

4garlic cloves, minced

¾cup red wine vinegar

PREPARATION

Step 1

Mix together 1 teaspoon thyme leaves, garlic powder, ginger, salt and pepper. Season the fish with the mixture.

Step 2

In a large skillet over medium, heat oil until really hot but not smoking, about 3 to 5 minutes, and add the fish flesh-side down. Cook until the flesh gets a little color, about 5 minutes. Flip, then continue cooking until the skin is crisp. Remove fish and set aside on a serving platter. Drain oil, leaving about 2 to 3 tablespoons in the skillet.

Step 3

Return the skillet to the stove. Add the bay leaf and fresh ginger, and sauté over medium heat until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Step 4

Add bell peppers, onion, carrots, Scotch bonnet chile, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, allspice and the remaining thyme leaves, and continue cooking, stirring, for about 2 to 3 minutes. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute.

 Step 5

Add vinegar, and stir to combine all the ingredients. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. Let it simmer for about 2 minutes, until the vegetables soften but still retain bite, and spoon over fish. (Leave the allspice berries or pickling spice in the topping. Simply eat around them.)

TIP

You can also turn this into a sandwich. Mix together some mayonnaise, fresh chopped cilantro and lime to taste. Then spread that sauce evenly onto a soft hero bread or crusty French bread, and add the fillets. Serve with sweet plantain fries.