Snapper Veracruz à la Pensacola

Serves:
4
Chef:
Jim Shirley
Ingredients:
4 fillets red snapper
1 dozen shrimp
Shells from shrimp
Tomato water
3 cups water
Seasoned flour (1 cup all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons
each garlic powder and onion powder, 2 teaspoons white
pepper, 1 tablespoon each ground rosemary and salt)
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 medium onion, diced
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 28-ounce can San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes
1 lime, quartered
3 bay leaves
1/8 teaspoon ground clove
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 jalapeño peppers, seeded and diced
1/2 cup coarsely chopped kalamata olives
1/2 cup sliced green olives
1 poblano pepper, seeded and diced
3 tablespoons capers
1/4 cup coarsely chopped parsley
Tortillas
1 bottle Madfish Bay Chardonnay, un-oaked
Instructions:
Sauté onions and garlic in olive oil till onions are clear. Pour liquid from canned tomatoes into a pot with 3 cups water and shrimp shells. Boil for 15 minutes. Strain out shells and return liquid to pot. Pitch in garlic, onions, 3 tablespoons olive oil, bay leaves, clove, cinnamon and jalapeños. Reduce on medium heat for 8 minutes. Chop tomatoes and add to pot along with kalamatas, green olives, poblano pepper, capers and parsley. Bring to a boil and add shrimp. Cook until pink and tails curl. Remove and reserve. Continue cooking sauce on low for 8 more minutes and remove from heat. Dust snapper in seasoned flour and sauté on medium high in 1 tablespoon olive oil for 3 minutes a side. Place fillets on plates, squeeze lime over fillets, cover with sauce, top each fillet with 3 shrimp and serve with warm tortillas. Pour chardonnay all around and offer a toast to Maria, a real chef.

 

Chef's Narrative:
From Jim Shirley's cookbook "Good Grits! Southern Boy Cooks"