Fish Veracruz

prep time:: 10 min
total time:: 30 min

Serves 4

A Spanish/Mexican style fish dish that again captures many of the flavors that I so enjoy – chilies, green olives, and capers. The difficulty of this dish on the Independence is that it requires many “fresh” ingredients. So we often make it shortly after we leave port and have the fresh ingredients available.

ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp garlic (about 4 cloves), chopped
1/2 C onion, finely chopped
1 C tomato, chopped with juices (2 small/medium tomatoes)
1 green bell pepper, cut into strips
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp capers
1/2 C green olives with pimentos, sliced
1 tsp oregano, dried
2 bay leaves
2 rockfish fillets or 2 large halibut pieces
1/4 C canned jalapeno slices

directions

1
Heat skillet with butter over medium heat; add onions and garlic and sauté until onions are soft. Add tomatoes and bring to a boil. Add the bell pepper strips to the mixture and cook for about 2 minutes or until the peppers start to become soft. Add the salt, pepper, bay leaves and oregano and continue to cook for about 8 minutes. Finally add the olives and capers and cook for 5 more minutes.
2
Meanwhile while the above is cooking, pat the fish dry, and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Melt butter in a separate skillet, add the fillets and brown lightly on both sides. All you want to do is lightly brown the fish, not fully cook the fish. When the fish has a light brown crisp to it, transfer the fish to the above skillet and place on top of the hot tomato mixture. Cover the skillet, turn the heat off and let sit about 5-7 minutes. The fish will continue to steam cook. Do not overcook fish! Fish should just be opaque and just wanting to barely fall apart. Finally, place the jalapenos on top of the fish just before serving.
3
To serve, place the fish and sauce on top of some cooked white rice.