Pescado en Almendrado Conventual

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting chiles, nuts, and aromatics
• •Molcajete or spice grinder for cumin, pepper, clove, and canela
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Wide clay cazuela or heavy 12-inch braising pan
• •Thin fish spatula

Instructions

1. 1

   Season the fish

   Pat the fish dry. Season it with the salt and lime juice, then let it sit 15 minutes while you start the sauce. Do not soak it until it turns firm and chalky. The lime wakes up the fish. It is not here to cook it.

2. 2

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile ancho one at a time, 15 to 20 seconds per side, just until the skin softens, darkens slightly, and smells like raisins and tobacco. Do not blacken them. Put the toasted chiles in a bowl, cover with hot water, and soak 15 minutes.

   Chile ancho is for color, body, and dried-fruit sweetness here. This is not a hot sauce. Not all Mexican food is about burning your mouth. That idea is lazy.
3. 3

   Toast the almonds

   In the same dry comal or a heavy skillet, toast the almonds over medium heat until they smell deep and nutty, 4 to 5 minutes. Move them constantly. Toast 2 tablespoons of the sesame seeds separately until golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Sesame burns fast. Watch it like the señora who taught you is standing behind you.

4. 4

   Fry the bread

   Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a wide clay cazuela or heavy skillet. Fry the torn bolillo until golden on both sides. This bread is not filler. It gives the almendrado its convent body, the smooth thickness that lets the sauce cling to the fish instead of running across the plate.

5. 5

   Roast the aromatics

   Put the tomatoes, onion slices, and unpeeled garlic on the comal. Roast until the tomatoes blister and collapse in spots, the onion edges char lightly, and the garlic softens inside its skin. Peel the garlic. The roasted jitomate gives acidity and color, but it does not lead the sauce. The almond leads.

6. 6

   Blend the almendrado

   Grind the cumin seeds, black peppercorns, cloves, and canela in a molcajete or spice grinder. Drain the soaked chiles. In a blender, combine the chiles, toasted almonds, toasted sesame, fried bread, roasted tomatoes, onion, peeled garlic, ground spices, saffron with its soaking water if using, and 1 1/2 cups of the stock. Blend longer than you think you need, until the sauce is completely smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve.

   Straining is not vanity. Puebla's convent sauces were built for smoothness and control. Gritty almond sauce means you rushed the work.
7. 7

   Fry the sauce

   Wipe out the cazuela and heat 2 more tablespoons olive oil over medium. Pour in the strained almond sauce. It will sputter. Stir constantly for 8 to 10 minutes, until it darkens from pale brick to deeper almond-red and the oil starts to show in tiny freckles on the surface. Add the remaining 1/2 cup stock, the bay leaf, raisins, olives, capers, vinegar, and salt to taste. Simmer gently 10 minutes.

   This is a vigil dish, so olive oil is the right fat. Not every Mexican pot takes manteca. The Catholic abstinence calendar shaped this sauce, and the fat respects that.
8. 8

   Set the fish

   Wipe the fish dry again. Dust it very lightly with flour and shake off every excess bit. Heat the remaining olive oil in a skillet over medium-high. Sear the fish 60 to 90 seconds per side, just to set the surface. You are not cooking it through here. You are giving it enough structure to survive the cazuela.

9. 9

   Simmer in sauce

   Lower the heat under the almendrado. Nestle the fish into the sauce and spoon sauce over the top. Simmer gently 6 to 8 minutes, depending on thickness, until the fish is opaque at the center and flakes under a fork. If you use a thermometer, 145F is the safe mark. Do not boil it. Boiling breaks the fish and turns the sauce harsh.

10. 10

    Rest and serve

    Turn off the heat and let the cazuela rest 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaf. Scatter the toasted slivered almonds and the remaining tablespoon of sesame seeds over the top. Serve family-style in the cazuela or on Talavera poblana, with Mexican white rice and warm corn tortillas. La cocina no es decoración, es trabajo. This is how the work arrives at the table.

Chef Tips

• •Use the best firm fish the market gives you. Huachinango and robalo are excellent. Mojarra steaks or trout work if they are fresher. Bad fish cannot be saved by almonds. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.
• •Peanuts are not almonds. Pepitas are not almonds. They make good Mexican sauces, yes, but not this one. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •True saffron is expensive. Use a few threads or leave it out. Do not use yellow food coloring and do not use turmeric. That makes a different dish, and not a better one.
• •The sauce can be smooth from a blender. I have no complaint with that. But you still toast, soak, fry, and strain. A machine can help the hand. It cannot replace judgment.
• •This is Puebla's convent table, not coastal seafood cookery and not mole poblano. Mole is not chocolate sauce, and almendrado is not mole with fewer ingredients. Cada estado, su propia cocina.

Advance Preparation

• •The almendrado sauce can be made up to 2 days ahead. Refrigerate it without the fish, then reheat gently with a splash of fish stock before adding the seared fish.
• •The almonds, sesame, and chiles can be toasted 1 day ahead and kept covered at room temperature. Do not soak the chiles until the day you blend the sauce.
• •Cook the fish the day you serve it. It can rest in the sauce for 30 minutes off the heat, which makes it useful for a Holy Week table, but overnight cooked fish tightens.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 460g)