Snappy Snapper
Grilled Red Snapper with Mojo de Ajo
We decided to grill up a whole fish, which we’ve never done before. We went to Dirk’s, a great fishmonger here in Chicago, and picked up a red snapper. The fish guy gave us a recipe from their recent cooking class- Red Snapper with onions and garlic.
We started with a cleaned, gutted and scaled fish.
Then we scored it and rubbed it down with olive oil, making sure to get oil inside the scores and the belly.
I stopped to make him sing for Nick.
Then I salted and peppered the fish and let him sit for about 45 minutes before we grilled him. Meanwhile, we fired up the charcoals to get them HOT.
While the grill heated up, I chopped 1 large white onion (though in hindsight, it was WAY TOO much), and juiced 1/2 cup of lime juice.
I chopped up 1/2 c of mild spring garlic.
We grilled the fish about 8 minutes a side…
We heated up the canola oil to smoking, put the fish on the platter, and dumped the lime juice, garlic, and onions on top of him, then poured the hot oil on top of it all and sizzled the hell outta it.
Filleted the fish, served up with black beans and rice and mangoes.
Endnotes: Next time, I’ll cook the onions and garlic in a pan rather than relying on a hot flash of oil— I just can’t eat that much raw garlic/onion combo and plan on sleeping ever again- then I’ll top it with the lime juice, and some cilantro.
