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. Tomatoes and squash blossoms are very seasonable now!
Food-lovers who know nothing else about Veracruzan cuisine probably have heard of the sauce used here 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. Actually, people in Veracruz don’t stop at red snapper; they use any suitable firm-fleshed fish steaks or whole fish and call the dish pescado a la veracruzana.
The sauce (sometimes also enriched with potatoes) is equally popular served with chicken, and I’ve 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.
Fish with Salsa Veracruzana (Pescado a la Veracruzana)
Ingredients
- 1 whole 3-pound fish such as red snapper, grouper, sea bass, or Pacific rockfish scaled and gutted, gills removed
- 1-1½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 3 bay leaves optional
- 3 sprigs thyme optional
- ½ cup olive oil
- 3-4 cups
Veracruzana Sauce
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Rinse the fish thoroughly, 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 skin and cavity with kosher salt. If desired, place bay leaves and thyme sprigs inside.
- Rub the fish with olive oil and lay it in a roasting pan large enough for it to lie flat. Note how thick the fish is at its thickest point. Add 2 cups or more of warm sauce to cover the fish. (If the sauce was made beforehand, simmer to heat.) Put fish into the oven. Roast for about 10 minutes per inch of thickness; the fish will be done when the eyes are completely white and the flesh near the back bone is no longer translucent but flakes easily when prodded with a toothpick. You will probably want to turn the fish (gently) once about halfway through the roasting time.
- Serve with more sauce on the side if desired.
