Robalo a la Tabasqueña

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide clay cazuela or heavy oven-safe skillet
• •Sharp fillet knife
• •Wooden spoon
• •Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

1. 1

   Season the fish

   Pat the robalo dry. Season both sides with the salt, black pepper, and lime juice. Let it sit for 20 minutes while you build the sauce. Do not leave it longer or the lime will tighten the flesh. You want seasoning, not ceviche.

2. 2

   Start the sofrito

   Heat the olive oil and lard in a wide clay cazuela or heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes, until soft and glossy but not brown. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. The lard gives body to the sauce. La manteca es el sabor, even when there is only a spoonful.

3. 3

   Cook the peppers

   Add the red and green bell peppers. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring often, until the strips soften and their edges relax into the oil. They should still hold their color. This is a Tabasco table, not a pot of gray vegetables.

4. 4

   Reduce the tomato

   Stir in the chopped tomatoes and tomato paste. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes, until the tomato collapses, thickens, and the oil begins to separate at the edges. That separation tells you the sauce is cooked. Raw tomato tastes thin and sour. Cooked tomato tastes like it belongs to the fish.

5. 5

   Add the briny pantry

   Add the chile amashito, olives, capers, caper brine, bay leaf, epazote, hoja santa if using, Mexican oregano, white wine or fish stock, and vinegar. Simmer for 5 minutes. Taste before adding more salt because the olives and capers already speak. The sauce should be bright, savory, lightly sharp, and fragrant with chile.

6. 6

   Bake the robalo

   Heat the oven to 375F. Spread one third of the sauce in the bottom of a baking cazuela. Lay the seasoned robalo on top in a single layer, then spoon the remaining sauce over the fish. Bake uncovered for 18 to 22 minutes, depending on thickness, until the fish flakes at the center but still looks moist. If you have a thermometer, stop at 130F to 135F in the thickest part.

7. 7

   Rest and serve

   Let the cazuela rest for 5 minutes. Pull out the bay leaf and the herb sprigs. Scatter the chopped cilantro over the top only if you are using it. Serve family-style with arroz blanco, fried ripe plantains, warm corn tortillas, and lime wedges. The sauce is meant to be dragged through rice. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Robalo is snook. If you cannot find it, use grouper, red snapper, or striped bass. That is a compromise, not an upgrade. What you need is firm white fish that can take the sauce without falling apart.
• •Chile amashito is the Tabasco chile for this dish. Ask at Mexican markets with Central Gulf ingredients or look for it dried. If you cannot find it, use 1 or 2 chile habanero left whole and removed before serving, but understand the perfume is different.
• •Use ripe tomatoes when the market gives you ripe tomatoes. If the tomatoes are pale and hard, use good canned whole tomatoes. Mexican grandmothers cook with what the mercado is selling today, not what looks good in a picture.
• •Do not rinse the capers until they taste like nothing. Drain them. Keep a spoonful of brine. That sharpness is part of the colonial pantry that stayed in Tabasco's coastal cooking.

Advance Preparation

• •The tomato, olive, caper, and chile amashito sauce can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. Reheat it gently before baking the fish.
• •Do not bake the robalo ahead. Fish waits for nobody. Assemble and bake just before serving.
• •Leftover sauce keeps for three days and is good over rice or eggs. Leftover fish should be eaten the next day, gently warmed, not boiled into sadness.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 510g)