Creole Red Snapper with Sauce

Ingredients

• Snapper

  Fish, mixed species, raw

  2 fillet or 436g

• Limes

  Raw

  1 fruit or 67g

• Olive oil

  Salad or cooking

  2 tbsp or 27g

• Tomato paste

  Canned, without salt added

  2 tbsp or 32g

• Garlic

  Raw

  2 cloves, minced or 6g

• Parsley

  Raw

  1 tbsp or 4g

• Thyme

  Fresh

  2 tbsp or 5g

• Tomatoes

  Red, ripe, raw, year round average

  1 large whole or 182g

• Onions

  Raw

  1 medium or 110g

• Hot Pepper Sauce, Scotch Bonnet

  Grace

  1 tsp or 5g

• Water

  Plain, clean water

  1 cup or 237g

• Salt

  Table

  1 dash or 0.4g

• Pepper

  Spices, black

  1 dash or 0.1g

Directions

1. Take lime or lemon and cut in 2 halves. With one half clean the fish by rubbing while squeezing the juice inside and out. Rinse under cold water, pat dry and place in a shallow dish. Reserve the juice of the other half of lime or lemon. Season the fish inside and out with salt and pepper. Add the garlic, parsley, thyme and onion, (chop hot pepper finely if using or add a couple of drops or hot sauce) cover and let marinate for 30 minutes or more.
2. Remove spices from fish. Heat the oil in a large pan, add tomato paste and let it cook while stirring until it is almost incorporated with the oil. Add chopped tomato and continue to stir until you notice that the pieces are slightly wilting. Add the spices from the marinade and let cook with the tomato mixture for about 1 -2 minutes.
3. Gently placed the fish on the tomato mixture. Once it starts to cook add the lemon or lime juice around the fish. Gradually add the water while alternately basting the fish with the sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste and continue to baste until all the water has been added. Turn the fish once to cook on the other side – turning it more than once will cause the flesh to break if cooking whole or in pieces. Continue to baste for about 1 – 2 minutes. Cover the fish and let simmer for about 5 – 10 minutes on low heat depending on size and thickness of fish. Uncover and baste until you have noticed that the fish completely cooked. Remove from pan and serve hot.