Pescado a la Veracruzana

Name: Pescado a la Veracruzana
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: Red snapper; Olive oil; Ripe tomatoes; Tinned plum tomatoes; Onion; Garlic; Jalapeno chillies; Black olives; Capers; Dried oregano; Bay leaf; Fresh coriander; Salt; Black pepper

Pescado a la Veracruzana, plated as one serving.

309 kcal a serving, against 464 for the traditional version. That is 155 kcal off, or 33%, with 44g of protein. Serves 4. 40 minutes.

What the traditional version is

Whole red snapper or thick fillets gently simmered in a heavy tomato sauce. The sauce is heavily fortified with a massive pour of olive oil, then loaded with sliced onions, garlic, pickled jalapenos, capers and black olives. The fish poaches in this oily, briny broth until tender.

What changed, and what each change costs

80g of olive oil reduced to 15g

Olive oil is pure fat and costs hundreds of calories. The traditional recipe uses it to build a rich, heavy mouthfeel. Cutting the oil down drastically saves all that fat while leaving the snapper's protein untouched.

What it costs you. The sauce loses its luxurious, mouth-coating texture. It becomes a much lighter, thinner tomato broth rather than a rich stew. It's the first compromise you'll notice, because the sauce won't cling to the fish in quite the same way.

80g of black olives reduced to 40g

Olives bring a brilliant salty punch, but they also bring a lot of background fat. Cutting the amount by 50% keeps the briny flavour in the pan while trimming the fat further.

What it costs you. You get fewer salty, intense bites of olive scattered through the sauce. You have to hunt for them a bit more, which makes the dish feel slightly less generous.

What goes in it

The ingredients, without the quantities. The weights are what the figures below are computed from, and they are in the book.

Red snapper
Olive oil
Ripe tomatoes
Tinned plum tomatoes
Onion
Garlic
Jalapeno chillies
Black olives
Capers
Dried oregano
Bay leaf
Fresh coriander
Salt
Black pepper

How it starts

Heat the 15g of olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat.
Tip the fresh tomatoes and the tinned tomatoes into the frying pan.
Turn the heat down to low, cover the pan and let the sauce bubble gently for 15 minutes.

The rest of the method, and every weight, is in Authentic-ish Mexican.

The numbers

Per serving	Traditional	Lightened
Calories	464	309
Protein	44.1g	44g
Fat	25.4g	8g
Saturated fat	3.9g	1.4g
Carbohydrate	15.2g	14.6g
Protein per 100 kcal	9.5g	14.3g

Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Mexican prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked. How every number is computed sets out the method.

Allergens. fish.

The method is in the book

This is a sharp, vibrant plate of food. Call it a bright and acidic fish stew rather than a rich, oily feast and you'll be about right. The tomatoes, capers and jalapenos still deliver a massive hit of flavour, and the snapper flakes beautifully. You miss the heavy oil in the sauce, but the core identity of the dish survives the cut. You get all the briny Spanish influence and the Mexican heat, without feeling heavy afterwards. It's a brilliant way to cook fish.

The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Mexican, along with 56 more. Buy the paperback