Yucatan Lime Fish Food

YUCATáN FISH

Steps:

• Make the pickled onions: Put onion in a bowl and season generously with salt and pepper. Add serrano, 3 tablespoons orange juice and 2 tablespoons lime juice, then mix well. Set aside for at least 15 minutes. Combine and reserve remaining citrus juice for marinade.
• Make the marinade: Put achiote, cinnamon, oregano and chipotle in a small stainless steel or glass bowl. In a small dry skillet over medium heat, lightly toast cumin, cloves and allspice until fragrant, 1 minute or less. Grind toasted spices to a powder in a spice mill or mortar, then add to other spices. Add garlic, 1 large pinch salt and remaining citrus juice and stir to make a paste. If very thick, add more lime juice. (Note: achiote may stain surfaces or clothing.)
• Season fish on both sides with salt and pepper. Using a sharp knife, score skin at thickest parts, if desired. Paint fish on both sides with marinade. Squeeze a little lime juice over fish. Chill for 45 minutes (or up to 2 hours).
• Bring fish to room temperature and heat oven to 425 degrees. Cut banana leaves crosswise into footlong lengths and soften by passing them briefly over a stovetop burner. Rinse leaves and pat dry. Lay a double thickness of leaves on a baking sheet and lay fish on it, skin-side down. Top fish with a large handful of pickled onions. Arrange tomato wedges over onions. Sprinkle with salt and a little more lime juice. Lay more leaves on top, then wrap like a package, tying with string or strips of leaf. Bake for 25 minutes, then remove and let package rest, unopened, for 15 minutes. Serve with remaining pickled onions.

SOPA DE LIMA (YUCATAN LIME SOUP)

Steps:

• Cut the tortillas into 1/4-inch strips. Heat the oil in a medium skillet and, when very hot, fry the tortilla strips, in small batches, until lightly golden and crisp, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Transfer to paper towel lined plate to drain. Season with salt, to taste. Repeat until all tortilla strips have been fried. Set fried tortilla strips aside and reserve the vegetable oil.
• Transfer 1 tablespoon of the reserved cooking oil to a large saucepan and add the chopped onion, celery, carrot, and jalapeno pepper. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables have softened, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic, bay leaf, and Mexican oregano and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the tomato and season lightly with salt. Cook, stirring, until the tomato is softened and has released its liquid and the mixture is nearly dry, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the chicken stock and chicken breasts and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a slow simmer and cook until the chicken is just cooked through, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove chicken from the soup and set aside until cool enough to handle. Allow soup to continue simmering.
• When the chicken has cooled a bit, shred into bite size pieces and return to the pot along with the green onions and lime juice. Cook for 5 minutes, or until the chicken is heated through and the soup is piping hot. Season the soup, to taste, with salt and ladle the soup into wide soup bowls, with a handful of tortilla strips added to each bowl. Garnish with the avocado and cilantro and serve immediately.

YUCATECAN -STYLE GRILLED MAHI-MAHI

Steps:

• Place fish in 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Whisk achiote paste and next 7 ingredients in medium bowl. Pour achiote mixture over fish; turn to coat. Cover and chill 1 hour.
• Prepare barbecue (high heat). Brush shiny side of banana leaves with 2 tablespoons oil; place each on baking sheet, oiled side down (some of leaf will hang over edge of sheet). Arrange 2 fillets with marinade still clinging crosswise in center of each banana leaf, spacing 2 inches apart. Drizzle wine around fish in leaves. Top each fillet with 1 bay leaf and 1 sprig of fresh epazote or parsley or 1 pinch of dried epazote. Fold overhanging edges of banana leaf over fish to enclose loosely. Transfer fish from baking sheet to grill, folded edges up. Cover and grill until fillets are just opaque in center, about 10 minutes.
• Open banana leaves. Transfer fish to plates. Garnish with tomato and lime slices. Serve with Yucatecan Pickled Onions and Habanero-Tomato Salsa.

YUCATAN LIME FISH

Steps:

• Thinly Slice garlic and saute in oil until crisp and brown.
• Set aside.
• Heat a large heavy pan on high heat and add oil until hot.
• Add fish and Jalepeno.
• Saute fish until crispy on one side.
• Do not disturb fish while cooking.
• Fish need not be done at this point.
• Lower heat to medium/low.
• Squeeze juice from limes (about 3/8 cup) and add to pan.
• Fish will now 'poach' in lime juice.
• Remove fish when done and rest on a plate.
• Add chopped cilantro, if using Allow lime juice to thicken slightly and mingle with oil and fish juices.
• Pour on top of fish and top with toasted garlic.

YUCATáN LIME AND CHICKEN SOUP

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 500°. Arrange the tomatoes on a small rimmed baking sheet. Set the unpeeled onion in a pie plate with 6 of the garlic cloves. Roast the vegetables on the top rack of the oven until blackened on top and tender, about 10 minutes for the garlic, 20 for the tomatoes and 30 for the onion. Let cool slightly, then cut the onion in half. Press the tomatoes through a coarse strainer.
• In a large saucepan, cover the chicken breasts with the stock. Add the lime zest and lime halves, allspice, oregano, the remaining 15 garlic cloves and a pinch each of salt and pepper and bring to a boil over moderately high heat. Add the roasted onion, reduce the heat to low and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes.
• Transfer the chicken to a platter and let cool. Gently simmer the broth for 10 minutes, then strain. Wipe out the saucepan. Remove the chicken from the bones and tear it into thick shreds.
• Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in the saucepan. Add the scallions and roasted garlic; mash the cloves to a paste with a fork. Cook over moderately high heat until the scallions are browned, 4 minutes. Add the strained tomatoes and simmer until the fat separates from the sauce, about 5 minutes. Add the strained broth and bring to a boil; reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
• Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the remaining 1 cup of oil until shimmering. Add one-fourth of the tortilla strips and fry over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally with a slotted spoon, until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined baking sheet and season with salt. Repeat with the remaining tortilla strips, lowering the heat if the oil gets too hot.
• Add the chicken to the broth and cook until heated through. Ladle the soup into bowls, top with the tortilla strips and sprinkle with oregano. Serve, passing lime wedges, minced onion and banana chiles at the table.

YUCATAN FISH WITH CRISP GARLIC

Steps:

• Combine 2 tablespoons oil with garlic in a small, heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook, shaking pan occasionally, until garlic browns, 5 to 10 minutes; season with a little salt and pepper, and turn off heat.
• Meanwhile, put remaining oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. A minute later, add fish and chilies and cook, undisturbed, for about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and add all but a tablespoon or 2 of lime juice, along with tomatoes if desired. Cook another 2 minutes or so, until fish is cooked through. Do not turn fish.
• Carefully remove fish to a platter. Stir cilantro into pan juices and pour, with tomatoes, over fish, along with garlic, its oil and remaining lime juice. Serve immediately.