Pescado Zarandeado (Grilled Fish)

This dish is said to have originated in the Mexican coastal state of Nayarit but it’s found in every coastal town on either coast of Mexico.  I tasted my first Zarandeado in Puerto Vallarta and of course it was delicious.  Many of the recipes include soy, worcestershire and maggi sauce.  Maggi Sauce originated in Switzerland; it’s like an Asia soy sauce and it’s popular in Mexico but also used in Asia and Europe.

After researching for the perfect recipe, I discovered that there is no one standard recipe for pescado zarendeado. Because there is nothing better than to eat fresh seafood I created a simple marinade of lime juice and garlic paste to compliment the natural taste of fresh fish.

Ingredients

Serves 4

3 ½ – 4 lb whole fish butterfly cut (Snapper, Sea Bass, Rockfish)

3 limes

7 cloves garlic peeled

¼ cup cilantro roughly chopped

½ cup extra virgin olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon for grilling

Salt and pepper

Preparation

In a blender, puree the garlic cloves in olive oil.

Rinse the fish and place in a shallow ceramic dish.   Lightly salt and pepper, cover the  fish with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the juice of 3 limes. Rub garlic paste and cilantro, cover and marinate for 1 hour prior to grilling.

Heat the barbecue grill to medium heat. Place the marinated fish on the shiny side of a sheet of aluminum foil skin side down. The aluminum sheet makes removing the cooked fish easy. Salt and pepper and place the fish on a grilling basket.  When the grill temperature reaches 300 degrees fahrenheit, place the fish, open side down, on the grill and cook 5 minutes or until the fish is nicely browned to a golden shade but still juicy.  Turn the fish and grill the aluminum side 4 minutes. To test for doneness, press the fish with your finger. When properly cooked, the area around where you pressed will break into firm flakes and still be juicy.

Place the cooked fish on a platter and serve with wedges of lime.

Note

You may want to invest in a fish grilling basket. These hinged, fish-shaped devices keep the fish off the grate (where it can stick), enabling you to turn the fish without having it slide off a spatula. Essential? Of course not. But fish baskets can make the process a whole lot easier.