Mexican Fish, the Rodrigo-style fish

My family loves Mexican food. I wish I can find a decent Mexican restaurant in our neighborhoods but there isn’t much to choose from. So that puts me into thinking that I should cook our family favorite Mexican food at home to satisfy our cravings. Unfortunately it is very difficult to find the Mexican groceries here in Argentina.

There is a pescaderia (fish market) that I go often to buy fresh seafood in San Isidro near I live. I found the fish below that looked similar to Tilapia. The fishmonger told me the name in Spanish, but the foreign name of one particular fish couldn’t stay that long in a tiny Korean woman’s brain. LOL!  I repeated  the fish name in my mind a few times to not to forget while I was finishing the shopping in the market, but it left me eventually and I couldn’t remember it by the time I got home. All I remember is that it started with “P”. When you reach over 40 yrs of age, memorizing something in foreign language doesn’t work well.

This particular Mexican fish recipe is called Rodrigo-style fish. I saw this recipe in a cookbook called Pati’s Mexican Table. She uses Tilapia for this recipe and also suggested to use any mild white fish fillet such as sea bass, grouper, red snapper or rock fish.

The skin of the fish is crisp and the flesh is soft yet firm. It is refreshingly delicious with the sauce made with green onion, jalopeño, lime and cilantro. So easy and simple to put together, this will make a great weeknight meal with some corn tortilla. Why not have yourself and your family a fish taco night with this recipe?

Pat dry your fish fillet with paper towel, and season well with salt and pepper. You will want to coat with flour before frying in oil.

The sauce is simple. Just chop green onion, jalopeño, cilantro. I removed the seeds from jalopeño. You can include if you desire more heat.

Then mix with olive oil, lime juice and soy sauce. Season more with salt.

That’s all. Drizzle over your fried fish and enjoy the crispness this fish offers. The flaky meat is just so lovely. It is suggested to eat with corn tortilla, but for being an Asian, I ate with rice.  Nice, huh?

Hope you can give it a try if you get hold of fresh white meat fish fillet with their skin on. Even a fish hater might like this.

Mexican Fish, the Rodrigo-style fish

Holly Ford

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 15 mins

Total Time 35 mins

Cuisine Mexican

Servings 6

Ingredients

  

• 6 tilapia fillets about 6 oz each, or other mild white fish such as sea bass, grouper, red snapper, or rock fish, rinsed and patted dry
• 1/4 teaspoon each kosher salt
• freshly ground pepper to taste
• All-purpose flour
• vegetable oil for frying
• 12 corn tortilla

For the sauce:

• 1/2 cup thinly sliced green onion white and light green parts only
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoon seeded if desired and chopped jalopeño or serrano chili
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• Kosher salt to taste

Instructions

 

• To make the sauce: combine the green onion, cilantro, lime juice, olive oil, jalopeño, and soy sauce. Set aside for 15 minutes. Season with salt if necessary to taste.
• Season the fish fillet with salt and pepper. Coat each fillet with flour lightly.
• Heat 1/4 inch of vegetable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Add the fish, in batches to avoid crowding, and sear for about 3 minutes until browned. . Turn and sear another 3 minutes on the other side. The fish is ready when the thickest part is cooked through and it flakes easily with a fork. Transfer the fish to a peper towel-lined baking sheet and keep warm in a lo (250˚F) oven.
• Transfer the fish to a platter and pour the sauce on top. Serve with corn tortilla.

Notes

This recipe is adapted from a cookbook “Pati’s Mexican Table”