Jamaican Style Fish with Escoveitch Sauce

My husband, G and daughter, TNC requested I cook fish for dinner on New Years Eve. For those who follow my blog, you know G is an avid deep sea fisherman. On a recent 10 day fishing trip, he brought back what I'll call tons of fish including Yellowtail, Wahoo and Tuna galore. G removed some vacuum packed bags from the freezer so that by the time I returned from my bimonthly visit to the nail salon, the fish would be thawed. He also requested that I cook it Jamaican style in "Escoveitch" pickle sauce. Not to worry, this sauce comes in a bottle and can be purchased at some local grocery stores depending on where you live. We have some friends who told us about this sauce. It is probably better to prepare your own from scratch but then if the bottled is good, I say it's ok to use when you're rushed.

The label ingredients list: water, vinegar, onions, salt, carrots, scotch bonnet peppers, allspice berries, citric acid, garlic cloves, white pepper and thyme. The directions suggest that it is best poured over fried fish and that it also makes a tasty tangy chicken or seafood marinade.

I cut a medium sized onion in half and sliced it into 1/8 inch pieces. These were sauteed in olive oil until transparent yet still slightly crisp. The cooked onion was set aside. The fish I used was Yellowtail and Tuna fillets. I cut these into smaller pieces about 2 inches in size. I added salt, pepper, and garlic powder to some flour and then lightly dusted the fish. I fried the pieces (yes I fried tuna) in the same olive olive oil I cooked the onions until they were lightly browned and cooked through.

In addition, I sauteed a couple of sliced jalapeno peppers, a habanero pepper and a cayenne pepper in some olive oil. This was set aside to add heat to G's serving.

I placed the cooked fish in a 9X9 glass baking dish and added the cooked onions. I poured the escoveitch sauce over the fish and let set for about an hour. This was suggested by our friends P and J as this would allow the fish to absorb more of the flavor. I was initially concerned about the fish getting soggy but because I lightly dusted it in the flour, there wasn't much of a crust to worry about. I added some of the sauce to G's hot peppers so that he could add to his serving. Before I remembered to photograph this dish, G had already pulled his portion from the dish and added to the extra hot sauce and TNC had eaten her portion.

The taste was very good, with that hot, sour, salty thing going on that is so delicious. I am not a fan of fish, but this I did eat. This is G's serving of Tangy Fish Escoveitched with an extra bite.