When my friend/almost daughter Annie came to the house one day she saw my bottle of commercial chile limón seasoning made by the producers of the very popular and delicious hot sauce La Valentina and said, “There’s one in every Mexican household,” and I must admit I use it all the time. I sprinkle it on tilapia when I want a fast inexpensive meal or on zucchini slices. It adds a lot of flavor and, because of the lime which is a natural preservative, it does not seem to have any preservatives. At least they are not listed on the bottle. At the restaurant, we got it from one of the mercados in Mexico and had it shipped.

Chile-Lime Sauce (Chile-Limón)

At the little fish restaurants and outdoor cafés around Lake Catemaco, this is a usual accompaniment to pan-fried or broiled fish or langostinos. At the simplest, the original chile limón consisted of just grinding hot green chiles with salt in a mortar and pestle and adding squeezed lime juice. Now you find versions with tomatillos, cilantro, and other seasonings. I love them all! Make it as simple or complex as you like. The mortar-and-pestle version is still very good, but nowadays people usually prefer a blender.

I am giving my favorite version of chile limón with garlic, onion, tomatillos, and cilantro. If desired you can omit any of these except the onion. With the tomatillos, the yield will be about 2 cups; the yield will be about ¾-1 cup without them.

Recipe for Sauce: Zarela’s Veracruz, Houghton Mifflin, 2001

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Course Main Dish, Sauce

Cuisine Mexican

Servings 4

Calories 197 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

For the Sauce

• 6-8 medium-sized tomatillos husks removed (about 8 ounces)
• 2 teaspoons salt or to taste
• 2 jalapeño or serrano chiles stemmed and seeded
• 4 cloves garlic
• ½ small white onion coarsely chopped
• 8 sprigs cilantro
• ½ cup freshly-squeezed lime juice

For the Salmon

• 1 pound salmon

Instructions

 

Prepare the Sauce

• 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 a little cold water (up to ¼-½ cup in all) to thin the sauce to a slightly soupy consistency.
• If making it by hand, first coarsely chop the chiles and garlic, then pound them to a rough paste with about 2 teaspoons salt, using a mortar and pestle. Add the other ingredients and grind to form a chunky sauce; thin with ¼-½ cup water.
• Serve with broiled or fried seafood, using the following preparation as a general model.

Prepare the Fish

• I find it very difficult to write precise fish recipes because there are so many variables: How thick, how fatty, how cooked a fish filet should be. I personally like my salmon barely done but many customers preferred it well done. That was one of my pet peeves when we served tuna and the reason we eventually took it off the menu. We lost too much money on it because people would send it back. I’ll tell you how I cook it for myself and you decide how long you want to do it.
• Preheat the oven to 400°F.
• Coat the salmon with the chile limón and sear it in a hot pan, about 40 seconds on each side.
• Put in the hot oven for 3-4 minutes or to the desired degree of doneness.
• You can also finish in the pan but you must watch it carefully.

Nutrition

Calories: 197kcalCarbohydrates: 8gProtein: 24gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 62mgSodium: 1217mgPotassium: 792mgFiber: 2gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 447IUVitamin C: 20mgCalcium: 34mgIron: 1mg

Keyword jalapeño chiles, salmon, seafood, serrano chiles, tomatillos

NOTE: Nutrition values are approximate and for informational purposes only. Values do not include optional or alternate ingredients, nor do they include the nutritional values for any secondary recipes that may be listed in the ingredients.