Pescado Zarandeado (Grilled Fish With Chile-Citrus Sauce)
- Total Time
- 45 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 2tablespoons achiote paste
- 2 to 3chiles chiltepines or chiles de árbol, lightly crushed (2 for medium, 3 for spicy)
- 5teaspoons fresh lime juice
- 5teaspoons fresh orange juice
- 1garlic clove, finely grated
- 3tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1tablespoon soy sauce, preferably dark
- 1green bell pepper, stemmed and seeded, cut into ¼-inch slices
- ½large red onion, cut into ¼-inch slices
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1whole red snapper (about 3 pounds), scaled, cleaned (head removed) and butterflied (see Tip)
- Warm tortillas de maíz, your favorite salsa, lime and orange wedges, sliced cucumber, sliced tomatoes, sliced avocado, sliced iceberg lettuce and sliced red onion, for serving
Preparation
- Step 1
Place the achiote in a medium bowl and, using a whisk, break the paste into small pieces. To the same bowl, add chiles, lime juice, orange juice and garlic and whisk until smooth, then whisk in 2 tablespoons of oil and the soy sauce until blended.
- Step 2
Prepare a grill for medium heat. Scrub the grates clean and, using tongs and an old, clean kitchen towel, brush the grates with oil. Toss bell pepper and onion slices in the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, and season with salt and pepper. Grill until lightly charred on both sides, about 3 minutes per side.
- Step 3
Pat the skin side of the fish dry with paper towels (this will help keep the fish from sticking). Using a sharp knife, score the flesh side of the fish on a diagonal at 1-inch intervals and about ¼-inch deep. Season with salt and pepper. Generously brush the achiote mixture onto the flesh side of the fish, making sure to coat the entire surface and pushing it into the score marks. If you have a fish grilling basket, use it! (Alternatively, you can roast it in the oven. Place prepared fish on a rack set inside a rimmed sheet tray and roast at 475 degrees until lightly browned and cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes.)
- Step 4
Grill the fish, skin-side down, until the skin is charred, 7 to 10 minutes. Carefully turn the fish over with a wide spatula; continue to cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until the flesh side has char marks and easily releases from the grate and the flesh flakes easily. Generously brush any remaining achiote mixture onto the flesh side of the fish and turn over again to grill the flesh side for about 1 minute to cook the achiote. Remove from the grill and place the fish flesh-side up on a platter. Arrange grilled vegetables on top of fish. Serve with tortillas, salsa, limes, oranges, cucumbers, tomatoes, avocado, lettuce and sliced red onion.
- Ask your fishmonger to clean and butterfly the red snapper for you. If your market doesn’t have snapper, you could also use whole sea bass, trout or large branzino.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Any other dry red chile that you can find in NZ should work. It should be spicy since its the only ingredient in the recipe that will lend any heat
Made this with shrimp and cooked it for 3 minutes each side at 475. It was spectacular! I’ll be making this again soon.
Grilling the whole fish (rather than filets) also serves the purpose of sharing the food around the table, which is a major component in the Mexican cuisine
The achiote mixture is delicious. I used chiles de árbol since I had them already. Next time I would not use a whole snapper; I would use fillets. Much easier to serve and eat.
Grill the skin side, coated in sauce, first; then, flesh side, not coated; coat flesh side and grill a second time. Is this the sequence? Bit confused by the wording of the recipe.
any alternatives to chiles chiltepines or chiles de árbol? They're not easily sourced in NZ
Any other dry red chile that you can find in NZ should work. It should be spicy since its the only ingredient in the recipe that will lend any heat
brilliant on blue fish ,fall catch
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