Sauteed grouper with tropical fruit salsa

4 Servings

Ingredients

QuantityIngredient
½Pickled or fresh jalapeno; or more to taste
2teaspoonsWhite vinegar
2teaspoonsFresh lime juice
tablespoonThinly sliced red onion; cut into 1/2-inch lengths
cupFinely diced ripe mango
cupFinely diced ripe papaya; (or 1/3 cup more mango)
cupFinely diced ripe pineapple
Salt and freshly ground black OR white pepper; to taste
2teaspoonsChopped fresh cilantro
1tablespoonVegetable oil
28ouncesGrouper; cut into 4x7oz fillets, each 3/4\" thick
Flour; for coating fish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut off and discard the stem of the jalapeno pepper and cut it in half lengthwise. Scrape out and discard the seeds (unless you want the salsa very hot; the seeds are the hottest part).

Chop the pepper fine, wearing thin, disposable gloves if you're sensitive to chiles.

Put the vinegar, lime juice, jalapeno and red onion in a mixing bowl and stir to combine. Add the diced fruit and fold gently with a rubber spatula.

Season with a little salt and fresh pepper and fold in the cilantro. If it's a hot night, refrigerate the salsa while you cook the fillets (it will keep for up to 4 days), but the salsa should be served at room temperature.

Put the vegetable oil in an ovenproof skillet large enough to easily hold all the fish, and place it over high heat. Salt and pepper the fillets and lightly coat them with flour, patting off any excess. When the oil is hot, slip the fillets, round side down, into the pan. Cook the fillets on one side until golden brown, 2-3 minutes.

Turn fillets over with a metal spatula and place the skillet in the oven until they're just cooked through, 8-10 minutes. To check, place the end of a metal spatula in the thickest part of one fillet where the flesh is beginning to separate into flakes, and push it open slightly. If it's done, that piece will move away from the rest of the fillet. Remove the fillets from the oven.

Place the grouper on dinner plates, spoon some fruit salsa next to each fillet, and serve right away.

Notes: COMMENTS: The heat level of this fruit salsa can register high or low on the scale, according to how much jalapeno you use. Total prep and cooking time is about 40 minutes.

Reviewed by Ann Burger on May 6, 1998; Edited by Hanneman; converted by MC_Buster. PER SERVING: 244 cals, 6g fat.

Recipe by: GREAT FISH, QUICK by Leslie Revsin Posted to MC-Recipe Digest by Kitpath <phannema@...> on May 06, 1998