What to Do with Herbs vol 2

Fish Veracruz Style

Taste & See: Like the most recent post, here's another simple dish full of complex, rich flavors you can make almost entirely with stuff in the pantry, plus a jolt of fresh herbs.

What do you have in your pantry?

You have pungent, flavorful, long-lasting things. Things that you can add in small doses to de-borify basic staples. Things that keep for ages. (To be fair, some of the below should be refrigerated.) Things that don't cost much, at least not for the work they do. Things like:

• A good array of spices, dried herbs & dried chilies. What is a good array? It depends on what you like to cook, duh. But it's also not a bad idea to just buy something and learn how to use it. I never used Aleppo Pepper until this awesome cookbook inspired me to shell out a few bucks for something I've since come to love and sprinkle on EVERYTHING.
• Olives, capers, anchovies, preserved lemon : Last forever, a little goes a long way.
• Canned tomato, tomato paste, sundried tomato: Do you see a theme?
• Roasted red peppers: The miracle jar that makes you feel like you actually do eat more than just carbs and cheese.
• Garlic, ginger, onions: Great in everything. Just keep on hand. Being without garlic when you need some is like having to read a whole lecture on your pantry before getting to the recipe .  .  . uh, er . . .

I could continue but hopefully these suggestions give you an idea. 

What's the point?

Let me spell it out: pantry + fresh herbs = blah weeknight evening when you're tired and hungry but don't have much on hand, you can still eat a decent dinner without ordering in or working hard. 

This is pretty much why this site exists, but I feel a mild need to remind you since I'm just now coming back from a hiatus, lest you're here looking for something super fancy. This blog is about faking fancy. Are we on the same page?

Alright, lecture over. On to the recipe.

Baseline Recipe: Red Snapper, Veracruz Style, from Epicurious / Bon Appetit.

This is an adaptation. I'll just tell you what I did - I didn't have everything on hand & didn't feel like measuring precisely.

I wasn't expecting much - I just needed to use up the fish. But even though it took just minutes to throw together and didn't use anything fancy, this dish was so flavorful and satisfying. I actually wished I had company so I could show it off. And PS, the sauce would be fantastic even without the fish.

What You Need:
Jar of home preserved tomatoes. (Oh, you don't preserve your own tomatoes? Kidding! Just keep some cans of diced tomatoes on hand, like I said!)
Olive oil
Small onion (+ half a leftover shallot I needed to use up) 
Garlic
Bay leaf
A few tablespoons chopped fresh oregano and parsley
Raisins
Capers 
Fillet of porgy (a fish similar to Red Snapper available at a budget price at my farmers' market)

What to Do: Preheat oven to 425. Chop garlic, onion & shallot in food processor; saute briefly in olive oil. Meanwhile, put a colander over a bowl and dump in tomatoes. Press down with a potato masher or spoon, reserving the drained liquid. Add (what is now) tomato puree to onion mixture, allowing to thicken (about 1 minute). Add bay leaf, chopped herbs, handful of raisins, spoonful of capers, and tomato sauce. Simmer until it thickens.

Put about a half cup sauce in a shallow baking dish (I used a pie pan), add fish fillet, and top with remaining sauce. Bake about 15 minutes or until fish is just opaque in center. Garnish with more chopped parsley. Serve over rice.