This Mexican dish is traditionally made with Red Snapper, which is difficult to find here. You can use any firm fleshed fish instead. Here I used swordfish steaks. The dish has something in common with the Italian Puttanesca, which also combines capers, garlic, tomatoes and olives. There are lots of recipes for this dish, which vary considerably. Some use red peppers in place of tomatoes. This version uses oranges and sliced tomatoes which produce an attractive finish.
Photographed yesterday in natural light
Ingredients (Serves 2)
2 chunky swordfish steaks (approx. 600g)
Juice of 1 lime mixed with 1 tsp salt
1 large orange
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 large onion finely sliced
1/2 tsp black pepper
A few pinches of salt
1 tbsp dried oregano
2 tbsp olive oil
8 cloves of garlic cut into slivers
40g pickled jalapeno peppers, sliced into rings
40g large pitted green olives, cut into rings.
2 tbsp capers
400g fresh tomatoes cut into slices
Method
Photographed yesterday in natural light
Ingredients (Serves 2)
2 chunky swordfish steaks (approx. 600g)
Juice of 1 lime mixed with 1 tsp salt
1 large orange
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 large onion finely sliced
1/2 tsp black pepper
A few pinches of salt
1 tbsp dried oregano
2 tbsp olive oil
8 cloves of garlic cut into slivers
40g pickled jalapeno peppers, sliced into rings
40g large pitted green olives, cut into rings.
2 tbsp capers
400g fresh tomatoes cut into slices
Method
- Marinate the fish in the lime juice and salt for 1 to 4 hours.
- Heat the oven to 180C.
- Cut the orange into thin slices. Reserve half the slices. Remove the rind from remaining slices and roughly chop the flesh.
- Cover the bottom of a baking dish or oven-proof pan with half the chopped tomatoes.
- Layer half of the sliced onions over the top and sprinkle with the oregano and black pepper, a sprinkling of salt and 1 tbsp of olive oil.
- Arrange the pieces of fish on top and surround with the remaining chopped tomatoes, the pieces of orange flesh and slivers of garlic. You may not need all the chopped tomatoes. The aim here is to make a level surface for the next step.
- Scatter over the jalapenos, olives and capers, reserving a few of each to garnish.
- Cover the whole dish with the remaining onion slices and then arrange the tomato and orange slices over the top. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil and scatter over the remaining jalapenos, olives and capers
- Bake, covered for 20 minutes, then remove the cover and cook for a further 15 minutes.
