Snapper Escovitch
Updated July 31, 2022
- Total Time
- 25 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 2teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
- 1teaspoon garlic powder
- ½teaspoon ground ginger
- 1teaspoon coarse kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 1teaspoon black pepper
- ½cup vegetable oil, plus more as needed
- 4(6-ounce) skin-on snapper fillets or 2 pounds whole red snapper
- 1dry bay leaf
- ½teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
- 3small bell peppers (red, yellow, green or one of each), thinly sliced
- 1medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 1medium carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks
- 1Scotch bonnet chile, pierced
- 1tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1teaspoon allspice berries or pickling spice
- 4garlic cloves, minced
- ¾cup red wine vinegar
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
490 calories; 31 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 21 grams monounsaturated fat; 6 grams polyunsaturated fat; 15 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 8 grams sugars; 37 grams protein; 655 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Mix together 1 teaspoon thyme leaves, garlic powder, ginger, salt and pepper. Season the fish with the mixture.
- Step 2
In a large skillet over medium, heat oil until really hot but not smoking, about 3 to 5 minutes, and add the fish flesh-side down. Cook until the flesh gets a little color, about 5 minutes. Flip, then continue cooking until the skin is crisp. Remove fish and set aside on a serving platter. Drain oil, leaving about 2 to 3 tablespoons in the skillet.
- Step 3
Return the skillet to the stove. Add the bay leaf and fresh ginger, and sauté over medium heat until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Step 4
Add bell peppers, onion, carrots, Scotch bonnet chile, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, allspice and the remaining thyme leaves, and continue cooking, stirring, for about 2 to 3 minutes. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Step 5
Add vinegar, and stir to combine all the ingredients. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. Let it simmer for about 2 minutes, until the vegetables soften but still retain bite, and spoon over fish. (Leave the allspice berries or pickling spice in the topping. Simply eat around them.)
- You can also turn this into a sandwich. Mix together some mayonnaise, fresh chopped cilantro and lime to taste. Then spread that sauce evenly onto a soft hero bread or crusty French bread, and add the fillets. Serve with sweet plantain fries.
Private Notes
Comments
Made this as per the recipe - the flavors are wonderful but it felt like the red wine vinegar overwhelmed the sauce in the end. I would likely use a lesser amount or maybe consider white vinegar instead of red wine vinegar since it’s generally less pungent. Only other feedback is that the prep work (thinly slicing all the vegetables, grating the ginger and garlic, etc) was quite time consuming and effectively doubled the cooking time. Oh well!
score the fish skin to prevent it from curling. this was delicious!
I'm guessing powdered allspice can be used in place of allspice berries. If I'm wrong, please enlighten me!
Please tell me how much is “two teaspoons of fresh thyme leaves”. Are we talking finely chopped? Roughly chopped? Rolled as a cigar and diced? A weight (grams) and slicing method would be very helpful to start.
I would leave them whole if they did not say to chop or slice.
I made this with fresh cod filets. It was absolutely delicious. A previous commenter felt it was too vinegary and suggested subbing white vinegar for the red. I used red wine vinegar and reduced the amount slightly.... It was perfectly balanced. I also subbed a bit of cayenne powder for the scotch bonnet because the store didn't have any scotch bonnets and they scare me anyway. I want to use the basic idea of this recipe to play with variations. New trick for this old dog. Thanks!
What is a Scotch Bonnet chile? I've never heard of it.
very similar to habañero chile
I believe Scotch bonnets are among the hottest peppers.