Fresh Red Snapper w/ Jicama Salad
This meal was all about freshness. It consisted of super fresh red snappers simply seasoned with salt and pepper then seared over high heat to lock in the moisture. The snapper was accompanied by a jicama salad. The salad was made with julienned jicama, carrots, snow peas, and red onions then tossed with a vinaigrette made with fresh mint, cilantro, tamarind paste, lime juice, jalapenos, and honey. Just to be fair to the fish, we drizzled it with some of the tasty vinaigrette.
sans sauceT: this was scrumdidilyumptious.
A: hell yeah. it was pretty damn tasty. I went to one of our local seafood markets to pick up the fish and the dude told me that it was caught that morning right off the coast of california. so it was definitely fresh. 🙂
T: it was very fresh tasting, and the texture was absolutely perfect. It was flaking off in big chunks with just the slightest stab with a fork. Mmmm mmm.
A: and was super moist. i love the quickness and ease of cooking fish. even if you marinate it it doesn’t take long to make. i particularly enjoyed the fish with large bites of the salad. The salad was just so fresh and crispy and deeeee-licious! the sweetness of the jicama and the carrots really contrasted well with the tangy spicy herby vinaigrette.
T: The crispiness was amazing. Not to many salads have that level of crisp.
A: true dat. you know? we don’t really eat too many “leafy” salads. we eat lots of other salads though!
T: I like leafy salads, too. As long as it’s not iceberg lettuce or beets I like it. Iceberg lettuce and beets were sent here by satan.
A: the good satan, right? I love beets! and iceberg isn’t un-tasty! it just has no nutritional value.:-P
T: the white parts of iceberg are bad. I do not enjoy them. beets… I haven’t eaten a lot of beets. Currently I believe they are pure evil, but my mind could be changed.
A: sweet! i’m gonna love turning you to the dark side!… eh… the beet-side!
T: The Beet Side.
A: It’ll be the “Beet Side Story”.
T: The Beet Side of the Moon.
A: Just Beet It…
T: that’s enough beet fun for today. I’m rating. I give this meal a 4.7/5. It couldn’t have achieved that high of a rating without the actual fish being as fresh as it was. And it was cooked perfectly… and the salad was so delightful and fresh. Good stuff.
A: fo sho. I think “fresh” is really the best word to describe the meal. I give it a 4.666… it was wickedly good!
T: whew. I hope you like puns. 😐
For Salad:
2 cups jicama, thinly julienned
1 cup snow peas, thinly julienned
1 cup carrots, thinly julienned
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
For Herbacious Spicy Lime Vinaigrette:
1 packed cup cilantro, roughly chopped
3/4 cup fresh mint, roughly chopped
2 green onions, roughly chopped
1 serrano peppers, roughly chopped, (seeded or unseeded depending on how spicy you like it)
1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, toasted and freshly ground (can substitute store bought ground cumin but doesn't have the same flavor)
1 1/2 tbsp tamarind paste
2 tbsp water
2 tsp honey
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
1/4-1/2 cup canola oil, depending on how tart you like it
kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Make the vinaigrette: Dissolve the tamarind paste in 2 tbsp of water. Add the tamarind/water mixture, cilantro, mint, green onions, serrano peppers, ground cumin, honey, and lime to a food processor. Process the ingredients until the herbs and peppers have been fully pulverized into tiny little bits. While the food processor is running, slowly drizzle in the oil to form an emulsified vinaigrette. Taste the dressing and season with salt and pepper as necessary.
In a mixing bowl, add the julienned jicama, snow peas, carrots and red onions. Pour about half of the vinaigrette over the julienned veggies then toss to coat. Taste the salad then season with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper as necessary. Chill the salad for at least 20 minutes before serving. This salad goes great with some simply seasoned and seared fish, such as red snapper. Enjoy!
What are jicamas? Never heard of them, we probably just have a different name for them, like cilantro!
Otherwise this looks just like the delicious meal I’ve decided we are going to have tomorrow night, hehehe 😉
Thanks for the inspiration and the recipe!
i beg your pardon t, iceberg lettuce was most certainly *not* sent here by satan!
this looks delish, i’ve always wanted to try a jicama salad, this dressing sounds complex and deeeelish!!
hahahah heehee, stickem up A, your plates ready but I want to see some fancy footwork!!
Iceberg is definitely not one of my favorite lettuces. The CSA sends us all sorts of yummy green leafy things and thank got iceberg is not one of them. You know iceberg was created for shipping purposes? Engineered lettuce! I’m pretty sure that’s Satan’s neighborhood!
btw – The jicama salad looks yummy!
I’m definitely going to try this dressing!! I haven’t seen jicama here but I’ll use the dressing for something else…it sounds sooooo good! By the way, congrats on the DMBLGIT win!!
Thanks Bron! I hope the salad goes well! Jicama is a root vegetable that has the same kind of consistency of an apple, but isn’t quite as sweet. I’ve been hooked on it this winter and can’t seem to stop making salads out of it! You know, it kind of tastes a little like kohlrabi, i think, too…. kind of apple kohlrabi mix!
Thanks Aria! don’t you worry about my fancy footwork ‘lil missy… i’ll be ready for ya! bring it! (and bring some of that delightful seabass when you come! :-P)
Thanks Jef. I can completely believe that iceberg was created for shipping. agh! There is just something so totally wrong about that! (sorry aria!) You and your CSA…”i get awesome shit delivered” thing! 😛 I’m still jealous.
Thanks Nicole, on both counts! I could really just about drink the vinaigrette, but i generally leave the drinking of sauces to T. 😉 It works really well as a dip for bread… fresh… warm… crusty bread!
If I lived within walking distance to a farmer’s market I’d probably ditch the CSA. Seriously, the OBFM is good! Does the fish guy still show up?
That looks amazing, and I am not a seafood fan! I’ve always found red snapper to be too fishy for me (of course, I can’t get it fresh, living inland and all..). Do you think that I could substitute tilapia?
If red snapper looks good tomorrow I’ll be making this. Simple, big flavors…I all for that.
Ah, this mysterious jicama thing has appeared again. I still haven’t seen them anywhere here!
I love red snapper but I always have trouble getting Goon to eat it. He gets funny about the bones. If only I could get the hang of filleting the darn things properly!
You make such exciting salads! When (if) it gets warm here I think I’ll be copying some. Minus the jicama.
I’m taking a year “vacation!”
Hey, those vegetables look amazing and I’m guessing that marinade will work well on peaceful food as well. Thanks for posting!
Hi, this looks absolutely wonderful! We are going to try it tonight. In response to the ‘what is jicama’ question–it looks like a big potato–kind of. It’s crispy and yummy after you skin it. You can find more info here: http://www.foodreference.com/html/art-jicama-history-facts.html
It can be found in almost any grocery stores produce section.
Thank you for this, the jicama slaw was really great. I love all those flavors together. I make a similar tamarind vinaigrette for shredded cabbage, but it was so nice with jicama (one of my favorite foods in summer). I actually had some snapper and was thinking of ways to cook it with tamarind, since I guessed it would work well together. After a little googling, I found your site. This really was a perfect recipe for the night. We didn’t add any other vegetables to the slaw, so the whole plate was a bit monochromatic, but my friend and I loved it nonetheless. Really tasty. Did you come up with the dressing yourself?