Robalo Relleno de Mariscos Tabasqueno

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large clay cazuela or heavy roasting pan big enough for a whole robalo
• •Cast iron comal for roasting tomatoes and softening banana leaves
• •Sharp fish tweezers or clean needle-nose pliers for pin bones
• •Kitchen twine for tying the stuffed fish
• •Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

1. 1

   Season the fish

   Lay the butterflied robalo open on a board. Check for pin bones with your fingers and pull out any you find. Rub the flesh and skin with the salt, black pepper, and sour orange juice. Let it rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes while you prepare the sauce. Do not drown the fish in citrus for hours. You are seasoning it, not making ceviche.

2. 2

   Soften the leaves

   Rinse the banana leaves and wipe them dry. Pass each leaf over a gas flame or hot comal for a few seconds per side until the color deepens and the leaf bends without splitting. This is not for looks. The leaf has to obey your hands when you wrap the fish.

3. 3

   Roast the tomatoes

   Set the Roma tomatoes on a hot comal or under a broiler until the skins blister and blacken in spots, about 8 to 10 minutes. Chop them with their juices. Roasting takes the raw edge off the tomato and gives the achiote something serious to hold onto.

4. 4

   Cook the recado

   Melt the manteca de cerdo in a wide skillet over medium heat. Add the white onion and cook until soft and translucent, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more. Stir in the roasted tomatoes, achiote paste, stock, 2 tablespoons sour orange juice, chile amashito, Mexican oregano, and epazote. Simmer 12 to 15 minutes, stirring often, until the sauce thickens, turns brick red, and the fat begins to shine at the edges. La manteca es el sabor, but the achiote is the color.

   If using habanero instead of chile amashito, keep it whole and remove it before stuffing. You want its perfume, not a sauce that punishes the fish.
5. 5

   Fold in seafood

   Remove the epazote stems from the sauce. Add the shrimp and cook just until they begin to turn pink at the edges, about 2 minutes. Fold in the cooked octopus, crab meat, cilantro, parsley if using, capers if using, and lime juice. Taste for salt. The stuffing should taste slightly stronger than you think it should, because the robalo will absorb some of that seasoning in the oven.

6. 6

   Stuff the robalo

   Heat the oven to 375F. Line a large clay cazuela, roasting pan, or rimmed sheet pan with the softened banana leaves, leaving enough overhang to wrap the fish. Lay the robalo skin side down on the leaves. Spoon the seafood filling down the center, then close the fish around it as much as the cut allows. If you need to tie it with kitchen twine in three places, do it. A celebration dish still has to behave.

7. 7

   Wrap and bake

   Spoon any remaining sauce over the fish. Fold the banana leaves over the robalo to enclose it, then cover the pan tightly with foil. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish, until the flesh flakes near the thickest part and registers 135F to 140F. The fish will continue cooking as it rests. Overcooked robalo is dry and nobody at the table will forgive you silently.

8. 8

   Rest and serve

   Let the wrapped fish rest for 10 minutes. Open the banana leaves at the table so the achiote-stained juices stay in the cazuela. Spoon sauce and stuffing over each portion. Serve with lime halves, warm corn tortillas, and salsa de chile amashito. No flour tortillas here. Flour tortillas belong to the north. This is Tabasco.

Chef Tips

• •Buy the robalo the morning you cook it. The eyes should be clear, the gills red, the flesh firm, and the smell clean. If the fish smells tired, no sauce will rescue it. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.
• •Ask the fishmonger to butterfly the robalo from the belly and remove the backbone while leaving the head and tail. Whole fish on the table is part of the dish. Fillets are easier, yes, but easier is not always the same recipe.
• •Chile amashito is the Tabasco chile to look for. It is small, sharp, and local. If you cannot find it, a whole pierced habanero gives the right southeastern aroma, but it is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Use cooked octopus in the stuffing. Raw octopus will not become tender in the time the fish takes to bake. That is not tradition, that is bad planning.
• •If tomatoes are pale and watery, cook them down longer before adding the seafood. A wet sauce makes the stuffing loose and the fish tastes boiled. The market decides the method.

Advance Preparation

• •The achiote-tomato sauce can be made one day ahead without the seafood. Refrigerate it, then reheat and fold in the shrimp, octopus, crab, herbs, and lime just before stuffing the fish.
• •The banana leaves can be rinsed, softened over the flame, wrapped in a towel, and refrigerated one day ahead.
• •The fish should be seasoned no more than 30 minutes before cooking. Longer citrus contact firms the flesh and changes the texture.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 480g)