Vinegary, Sweet and Spicy

The weather in D.C. is bone chilling these days. So, I needed something warming, something that reminded me of warming times and warming places. I had this dish last year during an all-too-brief stint to Jamaica. It was stunning in its flavor and simplicity.

The term “escoveitch” emanates from the Spanish word “escabeche,” which means pickled. But the fish ends up with more of a balanced, garlicy piquant flavor than anything overly (pickled) like you might find with jarred and pickled vegetables.

I also love this recipe because most of us have these ingredients around the house at any given time, and tracking down the remaining items (or improvising) isn’t too arduous. As always, with Recipe Play, I encourage you to play around with spices and levels of garlic, sweetness, heat – let me know if you try something different that turns out well.

I ended up buying a few fresh corn tortillas and a can of black beans and making fish tacos out of this. If fish tacos are your thing, this is a fabulous recipe to try. It is of course tasty on its own, but the warm, slightly fried tortillas and the earthy black beans complemented the garlic-vinegar flavor of the fish extremely well.

• 1 1/2 cups white vinegar
• 1 cup water
• pinch salt
• pinch sugar
• 2 cloves, diced garlic
• 4-5 sprigs of Cilantro
• 5 pimento berries (all spice) use the whole ones if you have them. If you only have the ground version, just use about 2 teaspoons
• 1 White onion, cut in rounds (like you’d do for onion rings)
• 1 half a Scotch Bonnet or Habenero pepper (feel free to play with the pepper depending on what you have, but the Scotch Bonnet is a special pepper and most stores carry it.
• 1 half a julienned Chayote squash (delicious, but I’m not sure how necessary it is). I see them more and more, but don’t fret if you can’t find one.
• 3-4 julienned carrots, depending on size

Fish fillets (you can do almost anything here, but I recommend something white and flaky. I saw a lot of recipes that called for snapper. I had frozen mahi mahi on hand and it worked out swimmingly

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Simmer the vinegar, water, onion, carrot, squash, garlic, Scotch Bonnet, salt, sugar and pimento berries for about 5-7 minutes. Let cool for about 3-4 hours or (best) overnight.

NOTE: If you haven’t worked with Scotch Bonnets before, be careful. They are extremely hot, and can leave welts on your skin if you’re not careful when cutting them. Do NOT rub your eyes or your nose when cutting. I recommend cuting the pepper in thin strips, using a plastic baggy to move them onto your knife, and then adding to the vinegar sauce. Afterwards, clean your knife and cutting board.

If you want this dish SPICY, use even more of the Scotch Bonnet. When measuring the Scotch Bonnet’s heat, take a look at the Scoville Scale, which measures the amount of capsaicin in peppers. Consider for a moment that Jalapeños have about 2500-8000 Scoville Units, while Scotch Bonnets fall at about 100,000 to 250,000 SU. Pepper spray, to level set, is about two million SU. So, check the spice-tolerance of your guests prior to moving forward with this pepper, especially in consideration of adding more.

Wash and dry the fish. Add a bit of salt and pepper and then dredge in flour. As I’ve mentioned before, seasoned flour is a great option for this kind of dish. Use it here if you have it.

Add vegetable oil to a hot pan and cook fish for 3-4 minutes per side. Add to an oven safe dish and pour the vinegar mixture over the fish. Add to the hot oven for about 8 to 10 more minutes, or until the fish is flaky, but not overcooked (this is tbd depending on the fish you choose -my mahi fillet took about 18-20 minutes in total).

Remove from the oven, add bruised cilantro and let sit for 30-40 minutes to let the vinegar absorb into the fish. This dish isn’t commonly served hot, so if that’s your thing, let it sit and then re-heat it slightly. I prefer the flavor at room temperature, but again, if that’s not your thing…

Serve with rice and black beans, or, as i did, as a delicious Jamaican fish taco.