Recipes

Seared Tuna with Oregano and Garlic

Seared Tuna with Oregano and Garlic

Atún Asada con Oregano y Ajo
El Campanario restaurant in San Miguel de Allende takes pride in its fresh fish offerings. Before you order, a large tray of fresh fish of the day is brought to the table for inspection. I ordered tuna steak with this bold and fabulous oregano and garlic sauce. In Mexico, a molcajete (traditional basalt mortar) would often be used to mash the sauce ingredients, but in the United States you can use a regular mortar and pestle or mash the garlic with a garlic press or the side of a heavy-bladed chef's knife, then mix it with the other ingredients.Maggi is a concentrated seasoning extract that's used a lot in Mexico to enhance flavors in sauces, soups, and stews; look for it in Mexican markets here or substitute Worcestershire sauce; it's not the same but adds good flavor.
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Ingredients

Makes 4 servings

Instructions

  • With a mortar and pestle, mash the oregano, garlic, Maggi, and salt together to make a paste and scrape it into a small bowl.
  • Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, lime juice, parsley, and pepper.
  • Whisk well to blend and set aside.
  • Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
  • Brush the tuna on both sides with the remaining ½ tablespoon of oil.
  • Cook the tuna about 3 minutes per side or until it is lightly browned on the outside and still pink inside.
  • (If you prefer tuna to be opaque inside, cook the first side 4 minutes, and the second side 3 minutes, or until barely opaque inside.
  • ) Transfer the fish to 4 plates.
  • Add the garlic sauce to the skillet.
  • Cook, stirring, about 45 to 50 seconds.
  • Spoon over the fish and serve.
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Course; Fish
Cuisine; Mexican

Seared Tuna Steaks with Yellow Chile Salsa

Seared Tuna Steaks with Yellow Chile Salsa

Atún con Salsa de Chile Guëro
Ensenada is a port city on the Pacific coast of Baja where fishing is an important industry. The fish market is filled with stalls selling stacks of just-caught tuna and many other varieties of seafood. When you see great looking fresh tuna in your store or market, try this delicious combination of pan-grilled or fried tuna steaks with yellow chile and tomatillo salsa.
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Equipment

  • large stovetop grill pan

Ingredients

  • Makes 4 servings
  • Yellow Chile Sauce
  • 4 tuna steaks each about 3⁄4-inch thick
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions

  • Prepare the yellow salsa.
  • If made ahead, cover and refrigerate until shortly before serving.
  • Season the tuna with salt and brush all over with olive oil.
  • Heat a large stovetop grill pan or nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
  • Add the tuna and cook about 3 minutes per side or until it is lightly browned on the outside and still pink inside.

Notes & Wine Advice

Serve hot with the salsa. (If you prefer tuna to be opaque inside, cook the first side 4 minutes, and the second side 3 minutes, or until barely opaque inside.)
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Course; Fish
Cuisine; Mexican

Seared Tuna Steaks with Roasted Tomato Sauce

Seared Tuna Steaks with Roasted Tomato Sauce

Atún Asada con Salsa de Jitomate Casera
La Capilla, an elegant restaurant in San Miguel de Allende turns out intriguing nueva cocina dishes and continental dishes as well. For this dish, the tuna was firm, fresh, and perfectly cooked. Tuna is best when cooked until both sides are seared and the inside is still pink and tender. You can cook it longer, but the tuna will be dryer and less flavorful. The tomato sauce can be made ahead and reheated.
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Ingredients

Makes 4 servings

Instructions

  • Prepare the tomato sauce.
  • Reserve in the pan off heat, or if made ahead, transfer to a covered container and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
  • Brush the tuna with oil and season with salt and pepper.
  • Heat a stovetop grill pan or a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
  • Cook the fish about 3 minutes per side or until it is lightly browned on the outside and until barely pink inside.
  • (If you prefer tuna to be opaque inside, cook the first side 4 minutes, and the second side 3 minutes, or until barely opaque inside.
  • )
  • Reheat the sauce.
  • Serve the tuna with a little sauce spooned over each serving.
  • Garnish with lime wedges and cilantro sprigs.

Notes & Wine Advice

Pass the remaining sauce at the table.
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Course; Fish
Cuisine; Mexican

Sautéed Sea Bass with Corn Mushroom

Sautéed Sea Bass with Corn Mushroom

Robalo con Cuitlacoche
Cuitlacoche (also spelled huitlacoche) is a gray-to-black fungus, somewhat like a mushroom, that grows on corn ears during the rainy season in Mexico. Cuitlacoche is very popular in cooking and is used extensively the way mushrooms are. The exotic mushroom-like taste reminds some people of truffles, while others just say the taste is exquisite, but hard to describe. I agree with both. Chef Felix Trejo of El Campanario restaurant in San Miguel de Allende shared this recipe for fresh sea bass that he serves on a bed of cuitlacoche.In the United States, canned cuitlacoche can be found in some Mexican markets. Of course, nothing beats fresh, so keep your eye out for it since it may become more available as more people discover its exotic rich flavor. (See Mail-Order Sources for Ingredients.)
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Equipment

  • medium skillet

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings

  • 1 about 8-ounce can cuitlacoche
  • 3 teaspoons unsalted butter
  • ½ medium white onion finely chopped
  • 1 small garlic clove finely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh epazote leaves or 1 teaspoon dried epazote
  • ¼ teaspoon dried oregano Mexican variety preferred, crumbled
  • ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
  • ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground pepper or to taste
  • 3 teaspoons olive oil
  • 4 6- to 7-ounce sea bass fillets, each about 3⁄4-inch thick
  • 1 medium tomato seeded and finely diced
  • ½ avocado Hass variety preferred, peeled and finely diced
  • 1 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Instructions

  • Drain the excess liquid from the can of cuitlacoche, but do not rinse.
  • Coarsely chop the cuitlacoche and reserve it in a bowl.
  • Heat the butter in a medium skillet and cook the onion until transparent, about 3 minutes.
  • Add the garlic, epazote, and oregano.
  • Cook, stirring, 2 minutes.
  • Add the reserved cuitlacoche, ¼ teaspoon of the salt and the pepper.
  • Simmer the mixture, stirring frequently, 4 to 5 minutes, to blend the flavors.
  • Reserve in the pan off heat.
  • Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
  • Add the fish and cook 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until it is golden brown on the outside, opaque but still moist inside, and just barely flakes when tested with a fork.
  • Season with the remaining ¼ teaspoon of salt.
  • Reheat the cuitlacoche mixture and divide it equally among 4 serving plates and top each with 1 fish fillet.
  • Sprinkle the fish with the diced tomato and avocado and drizzle with a little lime juice.

Notes & Wine Advice

Serve hot.
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Course; Fish
Cuisine; Mexican

Sautéed Sea Bass with Pasilla Chile Sauce

Sautéed Sea Bass with Pasilla Chile Sauce

Robalo con Salsa de Chile Pasilla
Sea bass or other firm white fish, such as swordfish or halibut, are my choices for this unusual dish from the Pacific coast of Mexico. The fish is served hot on a bed of crisp chopped lettuce with the room-temperature sauce spooned over the top. The temperature contrasts of the components make it important to serve the dish as soon as it's assembled, or the lettuce will lose crispness and the fish will start to cool. (The sauce can be made up to 5 days ahead. Store, covered, in the refrigerator until shortly before serving. Chop the lettuce ahead and refrigerate until ready to assemble the dish.) Black beans and fried plantains go very well with the fish.
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Ingredients

Makes 4 servings

  • 4 6- to 7-ounce sea bass fillets, each about 3⁄4-inch thick
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • Pasilla Chile Sauce
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 2 cups chopped lettuce such as romaine or iceberg
  • 2 medium tomatoes thinly sliced

Instructions

  • Put the fish fillets on a plate.
  • Drizzle with lime juice and sprinkle with salt.
  • Cover and refrigerate about 30 minutes.
  • Prepare the chile sauce while the fish marinates.
  • Heat the oil over medium heat in a large nonstick skillet and cook the fish 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until it is lightly browned on the outside, opaque but still moist inside, and just barely flakes when tested with a fork.
  • Serve the fish on a bed of chopped lettuce with the sauce spooned on top.
  • Garnish with sliced tomatoes.
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Course; Fish
Cuisine; Mexican

Grilled Sea Bass in Red Chile Marinade

Grilled Sea Bass in Red Chile Marinade

Robalo Asado en Adobo
One of the newer and easiest ways to cook boneless fish fillets is on a stovetop grill pan. The raised ridges on the pan make an attractive pattern on the fish. A nonstick skillet can also be used. The spicy red chile paste in this dish colors the exterior of the fish in beautiful contrast to the white interior and hits the taste buds with hot flavor. Other firm white fish fillets, such as swordfish or halibut, are also excellent in this recipe. Mango-Avocado Salsa goes well with the fish.
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Ingredients

Makes 4 servings

  • 3 to 4 tablespoons Red Chile Paste
  • 4 6- to 7-ounce sea bass fillets, each about 3⁄4-inch thick
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil

Instructions

  • Prepare the adobo.
  • Then, trim the skin off the fish, if any, and thinly spread the chile paste all over the flesh.
  • Cover and let marinate at least 1 hour and up to 6 hours.
  • Heat a stovetop grill pan or nonstick skillet over medium heat.
  • Brush the pan and the fish lightly with the olive oil.
  • Lay the fish on the hot pan, and cook about 4 to 5 minutes per side, or until the fish has nicely browned grill marks on the outside, is opaque but still moist inside, and just barely flakes when tested with a fork.

Notes & Wine Advice

Serve hot.
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Course; Fish
Cuisine; Mexican

Sautéed Snapper with Lime Cream Sauce

Sautéed Snapper with Lime Cream Sauce

Huachinango con Crema de Limón
Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa on the Pacific coast in the state of Guerrero, are popular seaside get-aways only 4 miles apart. Zihuatanejo, with its wide bay, has a long history as a trading port. In the early 1500s, Spanish ships loaded timber and other products in the harbor to be sent to Asia via the Philippines, and returning vessels carried spices, rice, fabrics, and the first coconut palms from the Philippines. Ixtapa was developed in the 1970s to be a luxurious vacation destination with a string of resort hotels along a stretch of beautiful white beaches.Fish fillets with rich lime cream sauce is a modern dish from the dining room of the Sheraton-Ixtapa hotel
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Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 200°.
  • Season the snapper fillets with salt.
  • Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat.
  • Cook the fish about 3 minutes per side or until it is golden brown on the outside, opaque but still moist inside, and just barely flakes when tested with a fork.
  • Transfer to a platter.
  • Keep warm in the oven.
  • Melt the butter in the same skillet and cook the onions, garlic, cilantro, and chile over medium-heat until wilted and fragrant, about 1 minute.
  • Add the broth and cream.
  • Bring to a boil and cook, stirring, until the sauce reduces and thickens, about 2 minutes.
  • Stir in the lime juice.
  • Adjust salt.

Notes & Wine Advice

Serve the fish hot, with the sauce spooned on top.
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Course; Fish
Cuisine; Mexican

Sautéed Snapper Fillets with Banana Salsa

Sautéed Snapper Fillets with Banana Salsa

Huachinango con Salsa de Plátano
Fresh Pacific snapper or other fish fillets go very well with a salsa made of ripe bananas. The sweetness of the bananas is balanced by the tartness of lime juice. Crunchy red bell pepper and spicy serrano chile add contrast and texture, and fresh mint adds a refreshing note to the salsa. I like to serve this unusual combination with black beans. The beans can be cooked a day ahead and reheated. A plate of crisp raw vegetables such as cucumbers, radishes, and carrots are a good addition to the meal.
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Ingredients

Makes 4 servings

Instructions

  • Prepare the banana salsa.
  • Cover and refrigerate.
  • (The salsa is best made no more than 1 hour before serving.
  • )
  • Heat the oil over medium heat in a large nonstick skillet and fry the fish 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until golden brown on the outside and opaque but still moist inside and just barely flakes when tested with a fork.
  • Season with salt and pepper.
  • Sprinkle with parsley and serve with the banana salsa.
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Course; Fish / Fruit
Cuisine; Mexican

Sautéed Snapper Fillets in Tomato and Mushroom Sauce

Sautéed Snapper Fillets in Tomato and Mushroom Sauce

Huachinango Entomatado
Chef Francisco Cisneros of Guaymas restaurant in Tiburon, California, shared this recipe. The restaurant offers fresh seafood dishes from Guaymas, Mexico, a fishing village on the Sea of Cortez. Serve the fish over cooked white rice.
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Ingredients

Makes 4 servings

  • ½ cup Basic Fish Stock or canned chicken broth
  • ½ cup Tomato–Jalapeño Chile Butter
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 6- to 7-ounce snapper fillets, each about 3⁄4-inch thick
  • ½ medium white onion thinly sliced
  • 1 medium garlic clove finely chopped
  • ¼ teaspoon dried oregano Mexican variety preferred, crumbled
  • 8 medium mushrooms thinly sliced
  • 1 medium tomato seeded and finely chopped
  • ½ green bell pepper cut into thin strips
  • Cilantro sprigs
  • Lime wedges

Instructions

  • Prepare the fish stock if using homemade.
  • Meanwhile, prepare the tomato-chile butter.
  • Then, preheat the oven to 375°.
  • Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and fry the fish about 2 minutes per side or until it is lightly browned, but not cooked through.
  • Transfer the fish to an ovenproof baking dish and finish cooking in the oven until the fish is opaque but still moist inside and just barely flakes when tested with a fork, 8 to 10 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, in the same skillet, cook the onion over medium heat until it softens, about 3 minutes.
  • Add the garlic and oregano.
  • Cook 1 minute.
  • Add remaining ingredients.
  • Cook, stirring, over medium-high heat 3 minutes more.
  • Stir in the reserved tomato-chile butter and continue to cook about 2 to 3 minutes more, or until the sauce thickens slightly.
  • To serve, place 1 fish fillet on each of 4 plates.
  • Spoon the cooked sauce over the fish on each plate.
  • Garnish the plates with cilantro and lime wedges.

Notes & Wine Advice

Serve hot.
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Course; Fish
Cuisine; Mexican