Recipe: Red Snapper Veracruz
It sure has been wonderful enjoying all the fresh veggies at the farmer’s markets this summer, with the bonus of being able to pick fresh from our home gardens too. But if you’re like me, after the 10th BLT and the umpteenth fresh salad, you’re ready for something new. And that’s when I turn to the Professional Weight Management Cookbook with its low calorie, high protein, and taste-tested recipes. I happened to have some red snapper in the freezer so I opened the cookbook to the fish section. Red Snapper Veracruz? The name sounds exotic, like latin seashore resorts with balmy evenings. And only 195 calories per serving, with 25 grams of protein? I’m in.
Feel free to skip directly to the recipe below, but I do have a few words of advice if you want to try this recipe yourself and they’re all basically this—don’t be afraid to make a few substitutions. Here are the ones I made and a few I didn’t:
Cooking spray. Whenever I see cooking spray listed in a recipe, I always assume they mean the pressurized sprays such as Pam. But I hope you keep a spray bottle full of olive oil in your kitchen to add just a touch of flavor to your salads. It works just as well to prep the pan for this recipe too, especially if you’re using a well-seasoned baking pan such mine.
Green bell pepper. Some stomachs aren’t happy with green bell peppers, some people don’t like the strong taste of the green peppers, and some cooks like me only ever seem to have one sad looking yellow bell pepper in the fridge. The good news is that green bell peppers are just yellow or red bell peppers that were picked before becoming fully ripe. I used my yellow bell pepper, which probably made the dish a bit sweeter than it was intended to be but you use what you have, right?
Fresh Garlic cloves. Okay, I know the fresher the better, but sometimes I’m lazy or I just don’t want my fingers to smell like garlic for days. That’s when I use the jarred minced garlic and I make no apologies for it.
White Pepper. Didn’t have any. Black pepper worked.
Fresh Tomatoes. I really intended to use my patio’s lovely ripe Cherokee Purple tomatoes but apparently the stink bugs had the same idea and they got there first. I probably could have cut around their damage but I reached for canned tomatoes instead. They were fresh once, too—right?
Red Snapper. This one I did do according to the recipe! But I could have just as easily used the more budget-friendly tilapia.
Capers. These are entirely optional according to the recipe but I had some and they made the recipe feel fancy. It’s entirely your choice whether to add them.
Most of the prep work for this dish is simply chopping the veggies. Once that’s done the bell pepper, onion and garlic sauté and soften in the skillet for about seven minutes (first photo below), then the spices, juice, olives and chilies are tossed in for one minute (second photo below). Last add the tomatoes and cook for about ten minutes (third photo below), or until the heat from the peppers and chilies, the tartness of the lime, and the sweetness of the cinnamon and tomatoes have blended into a nicely balanced blend of Latin sun and Midwest freshness. Pile the veggie mixture on your fish fillet (final photo) and bake!
Oh, you might notice my last substitution—I only baked two servings and saved the rest of the veggie mix for another meal. It should keep in the refrigerator for several days and may be used on chicken breasts or even scrambled eggs if I’m in the mood for adventure cooking. If you make this dish or try the veggie mix in a new way, let us know in the comments!
