Recipe: Pescado en Chile Limon

Every Thursday on the Good Food Blog we share a recipe from our archives.

Zarela Martinez is the author of “Zarela’s Veracruz: Cooking and Culture in Mexico’s Tropical Melting Pot” by Houghton Mifflin. She first shared this recipe for Pescado en Chile Limon on August 31, 2002.

Keep reading for the full recipe…

Pesacado en Chile Limon

Fish w/ Fresh Lime and Chile Dressing

You can pan fry, broil or grill the fish and omit the butter in this recipe.

Fresh Lime and Chile Dressing (below)

3 pound fish, such as red snapper, grouper, sea bass, or Pacific rockfish, scaled and cleaned

1 1/2 tsp coarse salt

1/2 cup olive oil

2 tsp butter, cut into several pieces

Make the chile-lime sauce and keep it warm.

Rinse the fish, inside and out, under cold running water, being sure to remove all traces of blood and gills. Blot thoroughly dry, inside and out. Lightly sprinkle the cavity and skin with the salt.

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat until rippling. Add the fish and cook, turning several times with two spatulas or a fish turner, until light golden and nearly firm to the touch, about 10 minutes.

Holding the fish in place and with a spatula, carefully drain off most of the fat from the pan. Pour the chile-lime sauce over the fish and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the butter and swirl the pan so it melts into the sauce. Serve at once with the sauce spooned over.

Chile Limon Dressing

6 – 8 medium tomatillos, husks removed (about 8 ounces), rinsed

2 tsp salt, or to taste

2 jalapeno or serrano chiles, stemmed and seeded

4 garlic cloves

1/2 small white onion, coarsely chopped

8 cilantro sprigs

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

1/4 – 1/2 cup cold water

Place the tomatillos in a small saucepan with a pinch of salt. Cover with water, bring to a boil, and cook over medium heat until they change color, about 5 minutes. Drain and let cool to room temperature.

If you are using a blender, simply process all the ingredients together, very slowly adding enough water to thin the sauce to a slightly soupy consistency. If making the sauce by hand, first coarsely chop the chiles and garlic, then pound them to a rough paste with about 2 tsp salt, using a mortar and pestle. Add the other ingredients and grind to form a chunky sauce; thin with water as necessary.