I am making some salsa veracruzana, the famed Old World-New World tomato sauce from the state of Veracruz, where it is often served with red snapper or huachinango. I am serving it with zucchini blossoms, filled with a queso fresco-cotija filling, lightly battered in masa harina, and fried, for a dinner party tomorrow. So no picture today. Very season tomatoes and squash blossoms!
Food-lovers who know nothing else about Veracruzan cuisine probably have heard of this sauce through a dish served in restaurants from Mexico to Manhattan: Huachinango a la veracruzana, or red snapper topped with a medley of onion, tomatoes, garlic, capers, pickled chiles, pimiento-stuffed green olives, and some combination of herbs, all gloriously redolent of olive oil.
This sauce (sometimes also enriched with potatoes) is often served with fish, and is equally popular with chicken. I’ve even encountered it with poached beef tongue. At my restaurant in New York, I experimented still further, using it as a sauce with fried squid. We also used it as a pasta sauce for staff meals.
Veracruzana Sauce (Salsa a la veracruzana)
Ingredients
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 5 cloves garlic 3 whole, 2 minced
- 1 medium-sized white onion chopped fine
- 4-5 large ripe tomatoes about 2 pounds, chopped fine, or one 28-ounce can of Italian plum tomatoes with juice, coarsely chopped
- 1 teaspoon capers about 12-15 large or 24-30 small ones
- 12 small pimiento-stuffed green olives
- 2-3 pickled jalapeño chiles stemmed, seeded, and cut lengthwise into thin strips
- 2 bay leaves
- ¼ cup parsley leaves
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme or ¼ teaspoon crumbled dried thyme
- 2 sprigs fresh marjoram or ¼ teaspoon crumbled dried marjoram
- 2 sprigs fresh Mexican oregano or ¼ teaspoon crumbled dried Mexican oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon ground
canela - ½ cup dry white wine
Instructions
- In a heavy-bottomed medium-sized saucepan with a well-fitting lid, heat the olive oil to rippling over medium-high heat. Add the 3 whole garlic cloves and cook, stirring, until deep golden (but not browned) on all sides; remove and discard.
- Add the 2 minced garlic cloves and the chopped onion. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is translucent, about 3 minutes.
- Stir in the tomatoes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes or until slightly concentrated. Add all the remaining ingredients and cook, covered, for another 15-20 minutes, until the flavors are richly melded and it is as thick as you like.
- Taste for salt and add another pinch or two if desired (the capers and olives will contribute some).
- If using whole fresh herbs, fish them out of the sauce and discard before serving.
