Iconic Mexican Fish Dish

I must confess, I sometimes spend too much time looking at food images. I guess there is such thing as food porn after all. And whilst taco images or videos usually dominate my selection, there is room for more. It so happened that I have been arguing with a friend of mine about the brand of Mexican cuisine and that it is not all about street food. To prove my point, I have shown him a picture of the dish called Pescado a la Talla, developed by an incredible Gabriela Camara at her CDMX restaurant Contramar. You can search for it; the red and green halves of a fish are striking! It has been quite a few years since this iconic Mexican fish dish appeared on the menu of several restaurants. No wonder why – this butterflied whole red snapper grilled with a vibrant red chilli paste on one side and a zesty green parsley sauce on the other, creating a visually stunning and flavorful dish. 

Naturally, I was intrigued to cook this one myself too.

So in this short post, I am showcasing how simple it is to cook Pescado a la Talla, Contramar’s Red and Green Snapper.

Being based in Tbilisi, Georgia, it is now very easy to get good fish. So I’ve finally got my hands on red snapper. And I’ve decided to recreate a grilled red snapper dish that features red and green Mexican sauces.

Step 1: butterfly the fish.

Step 2: use two salsas of different colour to marinate the halves of the fish.

I’ve used salsa verde (as it is difficult to find tomatillos here, I’ve opted for a store-bought one, delivered by iHerb) and my chipotle paste (my salsas and sauces recipes are here) for the marinades.

Step 3: grill the fish skin down.

Heat the oil and fry the fish for 3 minutes. Finish off in the same pan on a lower heat, just covering it for an additional 5 minutes. Do not extend this time, otherwise you’d overcook it.

I’ve used a snapper without a head that was previously cleaned. So I only needed to quickly butterfly it; the weight was around 300-350 grams.

Step 4: plate up and enjoy.

What should I say – your palate will dance with joy.

To begin with, it is quite a meaty fish, and it has a lot of texture. So I thought salsa verde would work well (as it is zesty and fresh). But I was a bit doubtful about chipotle and whether I made a mistake and should have used salsa roja instead. But no, chipotle worked so well on the red snapper – this half was actually my favourite.

It is such a joy to even switch between sides and try this fish cooked with two very different salsas and deliver such an amazing flavour!

In the original version, they have served the fish with fresh corn tortillas (make your own tortillas if you fancy eating this fish as a taco) and a side of refried beans (see my article about cooking beans here). And if you’re inspired to eat this fish more in a taco format, go check my other suggestions for delicious fish tacos here.

Now back to you: are you tempted to have a go at this iconic Mexican fish dish? How about grilling a wonderful piece of fish yourself and use two different Mexican sauces with it?