“We have delicious ingredients, and with delicious ingredients, we can make delicious recipes,” said Chef Regina Escalante.
Credit: CNN
Editor's Note:
CNN's original series “Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico” travels through the many vibrant regions of the country to reveal its unique and vibrant cuisine.
The series premieres this spring in the US.
(CNN) --
Eva Longoria will never tire of this salty dish.
While visiting the sunny city of Merida in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, he met chef Regina Escalante, who runs the popular Merci restaurant.
In his cooking, Escalante uses one of the region's most beloved ingredients: salt.
It comes from the fishing town of Celestún, where the salt pans produce many forms of the mineral, including the purest, fleur de sel.
Salt water combines with warm rain, slowly evaporating in the tropical heat, leaving behind this precious pink crystal.
“We have delicious ingredients, and with delicious ingredients, we can make delicious recipes,” said Chef Regina Escalante.
Credit: CNN
To highlight this flaky salt, Escalante prepared grilled sea bass served with grilled avocado and mango on an episode of CNN's original series "Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico."
The fish is stuffed with garlic, rosemary, thyme, sour orange, and of course, a generous dose of salt.
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To boost the flavor, the chef used her secret weapon: an herb brush.
Escalante made the brush by gathering together fresh parsley, rosemary and thyme and used it to coat the fish in a garlic puree with sour orange juice.
“This is my idea of food heaven.
Truly, I would choose it as my last meal on Earth,” Longoria said in the docuseries as he enjoyed the beachside dish.
“The contrast between the crispy salt and the soft, sweet fish is simply sublime.”
Escalante has a simple formula.
“With delicious ingredients, we can make delicious recipes,” he said.
“You don't know how excited I am to finally eat fish on a beach in the Yucatan,” Eva Longoria (second from left) said on “Searching for Mexico.”
Escalante chose a simple recipe so that Longoria could really appreciate the flavor and quality of the local fleur de sel.
Credit: Andrew Muggleton
Grilled whole fish with sour orange
Chef Regina Escalante prepares this flavorful fish for tacos that are paired with fresh avocado, grilled mango, and pickled onion in sour orange juice.
She uses Yucatecan fleur de sel, but you can use a more readily available substitute, like Himalayan pink salt or gray sea salt.
4 portions
Ingredients
1 white onion
1 head of garlic (2 ounces or 60 grams) left whole to roast plus the cloves of half a head of garlic (1 ounce or 30 grams), separated, peeled and crushed to fill the fish.
Just under 1½ cups |
335 milliliters olive oil, divided
3⅓ to 4½ pounds |
1.5-2 kilograms of whole fish, such as sea bass, branzino, or red snapper
1.8 ounces |
50 grams of fresh thyme sprigs, divided
1.8 ounces |
50 grams of fresh rosemary sprigs, divided
1.8 ounces |
50 grams fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs, divided
7 sour oranges (also known as bitter or Seville oranges)
2½ teaspoons |
10 grams Himalayan pink salt or gray sea salt, plus extra to taste
½ teaspoon (or 2⅓ grams) freshly ground black pepper, plus extra to taste
1 medium red onion, sliced (7 ounces or 200 grams)
2 mangoes
4 green lemons
3.5 ounces |
100 grams fresh coriander, divided
2 avocados
12 corn tortillas
Instructions
Fire up the grill.
When hot, halve the white onion.
Place half of the onion on the end of a roasting fork and rub the grates, cut side down, to clean them.
Trim about ½ inch (or 1¼ centimeters) from the top of 1 whole head of garlic, exposing individual cloves.
Drizzle 1 tablespoon (or 15 milliliters) of olive oil, then wrap the head in aluminum foil.
Grill the garlic bulb over indirect heat until soft, about 40 minutes.
When the garlic is about halfway roasted, clean and scale the fish, and let it sit at room temperature for 20 minutes.
Remove the head of roasted garlic from the grill and allow it to cool.
While it cools, make a bouquet with half the thyme, rosemary, and parsley and secure with kitchen string.
Stuff the fish with 2 slices of 1 sour orange (reserve the remaining sour orange for another use), the crushed cloves from the remaining half of the head of raw garlic, and the remaining thyme, rosemary, and parsley.
Sprinkle 1 teaspoon (or 4 grams) of salt inside the cavity.
Squeeze the cloves of the roasted head of garlic into a bowl with scant 1 cup (or 200 milliliters) of oil, 1 teaspoon (or 4 grams) of salt, and ½ teaspoon (or 2⅓ grams) of pepper and mash with a wooden spoon. to combine.
Squeeze the juice of 3 sour oranges (about 1 cup or 237 milliliters) and mix.
Season the fish with salt, place it on the grill over moderately high heat, and drizzle it with 4 tablespoons (or 60 milliliters) of olive oil.
Grill, using the herb bouquet to brush the fish constantly with the garlic puree, until golden and crisp, about 10 minutes per side (depending on type and size of fish).
Transfer the grilled fish to a serving plate.
Let rest for 10 minutes.
The secret weapon in this dish is an herb brush of parsley, rosemary and thyme that is used to apply the garlic puree to the fish.
Credit: CNN
To accompany
Meanwhile, combine the red onion and the juice of 3 sour oranges in a bowl.
Let rest for 10 minutes.
Cut each mango lengthwise for a total of 4 skin-on halves.
Being careful not to pierce the skin so it stays together, make cuts in a ½-inch (or 1¼-centimeter) striped pattern.
Cook the mango slices over medium heat until charred, 3 to 4 minutes.
Using tongs, remove them from the grill and let them cool.
Invert the skin of each mango and cut into cubes;
place the mango cubes in a bowl.
Combine the mangoes with the zest and juice of 1 lemon, half the cilantro, the remaining ¼ cup (60 milliliters) olive oil, and ½ teaspoon (or 2 grams) of salt.
In a separate bowl, mash the avocados and season with the juice of 1 lemon, salt and pepper to taste.
Sprinkle the tortillas with water and place on the grill over indirect heat until golden brown, about 45 seconds.
Flip with tongs and heat the other side, about 45 seconds.
Assemble the tacos by filling each tortilla first with avocado, then the fish, onion and mango.
Sprinkle with the remaining coriander and finish with salt.
Serve with slices of the remaining two lemons.
GastronomyYucatan Peninsula
