Red snapper, Caribbean-style

Carnival is fast approaching, and that also means the Antillean Fair on the grounds of the Afro-Antillean Museum in Panama City on Carnival Saturday and Sunday, which in turn means an opportunity to sample buns, jerk chicken, Jamaican curry, souse and many other West Indian delicacies. Most likely, someone will be selling escoviched fish at the Antillean Fair as well. There are many, many variations on this theme, but the following is the way the editor likes it:

Need we warn you about cutting and handling aji chombo peppers? Don't do it with your bare hands! Whatever you do, do not rub your eyes with a gloved hand that has just touched these peppers. It will be painful if you ignore this advice.

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds red snapper filets, sliced into half-inch-wide strips
• 2 quarts water
• 4 limes
• 2 Tablespoons salt
• 1 Tablespoon white pepper
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 2 aji chombo (scotch bonnet) peppers with seeds, pulp and stems removed and cut into thin strips --- more or likelier less, depending on your taste for the picante, knowing that with two peppers it is much spicier than most Panamanians like their food
• 2 cups white vinegar
• 2 large Spanish onions, sliced thin
• 1 Tablespoon whole allspice berries

Directions:

• Mix the juice of the limes in the water, and then thoroughly rinse the fish in the mixture
• Dry the fish with cloth or paper towels
• Mix the salt and white pepper together in small bowl
• Spread the mix on a small plate, a little at a time for each piece of fish
• Lightly coat the fish with the salt and pepper mixture one piece at a time, put on paper towels
• Heat a skillet until very hot, and add the oil and bring it to the boiling point (if you first heat the skillet with the oil in it, you are likely to burn the oil)
• Add the garlic cloves to the oil
• When the garlic cloves are dark brown, remove them from the oil
• Fry the fish, turning it once so that it is brown and crispy on each side
• Drain the oil by using proper utensils to take the fish out of the skillet, and by putting the fish on a plate covered with paper towels and letting it sit for a few minutes
• Transfer the fish in an ovenproof glass bowl with a cover
• Combine the vinegar, onions, aji chombo and allspice berries in a saucepan, bring to a boil, then turn down the heat, cover and simmer until the onions are clear
• Pour the mixture from the saucepan over the fish, cover the bowl and marinate in the refrigerator overnight, gently turning the fish over once so as to fully marinate it without breaking the fish strips
• This is good picnic food, because it’s good when served at room temperature --- but for sanitary reasons don’t let it sit out for more than a couple of hours
• This is spicy if you put in most or all of the aji chombo peppers suggested, so you want to serve it with something starchy on the side to take out the fire --- maybe michi bread, but the possibilities are almost endless

dining

Escoviched Red Snapper