It’s only been a two weeks since my last post but it feels like an eternity. Ya’ll, freelancing is HARD. I mean obviously it’s hard or everyone would do it. It’s kind of like falling off a cliff and then theres no ground, you just fall for the rest of eternity. I’ve been working a ton in September which is amazing and I finally feel like I’m starting to figure out what the hell I’m doing. So naturally, I figured I would try something crazy for dinner, that I've definitely never done before. Full disclose a lot of these recipe’s are things I have never done before. So here we go, very simply, whole roasted red snapper.
Brittany with our fish named Wade.
Brit brought me out to the Westwego fish market, it’s 100 West Bank Expressway, it’s out there. But I figured if I was going to find a red snapper big enough for 10 people that would be the place to go. Clearly it was as you can see below he did not fit on my largest sheet tray. I had to wrap the oven rack and cook it directly on there. We got this 7.5 pound red snapper from Amy’s Seafood Stand, she was so sweet and super helpful. Wade was already de-scaled and gutted so all we had to do was bring him home and season him. I completely stole Donald Link’s fish salsa verde that they use for their market fish at Peche, which we used to top the fish once he was cooked. I stuffed him with the parsley and mint stems from the salsa, several crushed garlic cloves, and sliced satsumas that I got from the crescent city farmers market.
DL’s Salsa Verde (Tweaked):
1tsp black pepper
1tsp salt
1tsp chili flakes
1/2 cup mint finely chopped
1 cup parsley finely chopped
4 garlic cloves finely chopeed
1/2 cup olive oil
zest of 1 whole satsuma (reserve fruit for later)
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and save for later. I scored the fish in a criss cross pattern, generously salted, peppered the outside, drizzled olive oil over the fish and then squeezed the juice of one whole satsuma (the one we zested) over the top. I used another satsuma sliced and put that inside the fish with the herb stems and more garlic. Since this fish was so large it needed to cook longer than most fish would. I set the oven to 425F and cooked covered with aluminum foil for 25 minutes and then uncovered for 45. The inside temp on the fish should be between 125 and 140ish, we went for the higher temp just because he was SO large. Served with the salsa verde, as well as pesto cous-cous and asparagus.
