Red Snapper Vera Cruz
Veracruz sauce is one of Mexico's great contributions to the world, and it is embarrassing how little attention it gets outside of the Gulf Coast. It is a tomato-based braise with green olives, capers, pickled jalapenos, and fresh herbs, and the combination of bright acid and briny salt and mild heat is unlike anything else in Mexican cooking. Red snapper is the traditional fish for this preparation because it holds together in the sauce without falling apart and because the Gulf of Mexico has a lot of it. Poaching the fish directly in the Veracruz sauce is the move. It cooks gently and absorbs the tomato and olive brine from all sides. The ramen noodles go underneath and the whole thing becomes a bowl that tastes like eating on a dock somewhere warm, which is not the worst situation to recreate in your kitchen on a Tuesday.
Capers burst open—Tomato and olive brine—Snapper finds the sea
Let Me Tell You...
The Veracruz style of cooking fish is one of those preparations that looks more complicated than it is, which is something I appreciate because most things I want to eat are either very simple or require three days of preparation with no middle ground.
You make a tomato sauce with garlic and onion, add the olives and capers and pickled jalapenos, then lay the fish directly on top and let it poach in the steam and the liquid until it is just cooked through.
The fish picks up the sauce flavor from underneath while the top stays just barely set, and the whole thing takes about fifteen minutes once the sauce is going.
It is done when it flakes at the thickest part with gentle pressure from a fork.
Pull it off the heat immediately.
Green olives are not optional in this sauce.
I know some people have an olive problem and want to leave them out, but without them the sauce is just a tomato braise, and what makes the Veracruz version distinct is the combination of tomato acidity and olive brine and the little burst of salt from the capers.
The pickled jalapeno brine also goes in, not just the jalapenos themselves, because the brine adds a vinegary sharpness that rounds out the tomato in a way plain jalapenos do not.
About 2 teaspoons.
It makes the brightness land right.
The ramen noodles are the part of this dish that requires some mental adjustment if you have eaten Veracruz-style fish before, usually served over white rice or with crusty bread to mop up the sauce.
But the noodles do something different than rice does: they curl up into the olive-tomato broth and hold it in a way that means every forkful has both noodle and sauce rather than noodles and sauce in separate bites.
The fish lays over the top and breaks apart as you eat, which is a better experience than it sounds.
They will finish cooking and absorb flavor at the same time.
A handful of flat-leaf parsley over the top is the right call here, not cilantro.
The Veracruz style uses parsley, which is the Spanish-influenced side of Mexican coastal cooking rather than the indigenous herb tradition, and it tastes cleaner and less assertive against the briny sauce.
This is a bowl that tastes like it belongs on a menu somewhere with good views and indifferent service, which in my experience is where the best coastal food usually lives.
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs red snapper fillets, skin removed, cut into 4-inch portions
- 8 ounces dried ramen noodles (2 bricks, seasoning packets discarded)
- One 14-ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 1 cup low-sodium fish or chicken broth
- 1 medium white onion, thinly sliced
- 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup pitted green olives (such as Castelvetrano or manzanilla), halved
- 2 tablespoons capers, drained
- 3 pickled jalapeno slices, plus 2 teaspoons brine from the jar
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
- 1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped, for serving
- Lime wedges, for serving
Preparation
- Heat olive oil in a wide, deep skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened and translucent. Add garlic and cook 1 minute until fragrant.
- Add crushed tomatoes, broth, oregano, cumin, olives, capers, pickled jalapenos, and 2 teaspoons jalapeno brine. Stir to combine. Season generously with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook uncovered for 12-15 minutes until the sauce thickens slightly.
- Pat snapper portions dry and season lightly with salt. Nestle the fish into the simmering sauce in a single layer. Cover the skillet and cook over medium-low heat for 8-10 minutes until the fish is just opaque and flakes easily at the thickest part. Remove from heat immediately.
- While fish poaches, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook ramen noodles for 90 seconds, pulling them 30 seconds before done. Drain and divide between 2-4 bowls.
- Ladle the Veracruz sauce generously over the noodles in each bowl. Carefully lay a portion of snapper on top of each bowl. Scatter fresh parsley over everything. Serve with lime wedges and optional toppings.