Rosie Prepares Red Snapper With A Mediterranean Twist.

Mr. Hawthorne came home the other night with red snapper fillets he'd picked up at Billy's Seafood. There are signs on the front door at Billy's with the different seafood offerings plus a sign saying "No public restrooms" and another sign saying "No dogs." So lately when I go in, I tell Judy (the better part of Billy), "Hey Judy, I got my dog outside in my truck and she needs to pee. Can I bring her in to use your bathroom?" Or some variation on that theme. I just crack myself up sometimes. Others just put up with me. Anyways, on to the money shot:

I decided to lightly saute the fish and make a Mediterranean style vegetable accompaniment. Yes, Mediterranean. Or what I perceive as Mediterranean. It's got black olives and oregano in it, so that just screams Mediterranean to me. (No, I don't get out much.) Snapper is a fish found in the Gulf of Mexico and the Southeastern Atlantic coast of the United States and doesn't swim in Mediterranean waters, so naturally, I'm going Mediterranean with this dish.

I marinated the red snapper in some homemade Italian dressing: Combination of Balsamic vinegar and cider vinegar just up to the vinegar line on a Good Seasonings cruet Freshly ground salt and pepper 1 TB dried oregano 1/2 tsp granulated garlic 1/2 tsp onion powder 1 tsp Italian seasoning Fill to the oil line with Bertolli Extra Light Olive Oil.

While my snapper was marinating, I started preparing my veggies: 3 garlic cloves onion my sad shriveled mushrooms And from my garden: tomato pepper basil parsley

A can of jumbo black olives.

These were truly jumbo olives.

My red and green pepper basking in the sunlight.

I'm still assembling ingredients. Here I have the black olives, chopped pepper and tomato, and some oregano from my garden.

I'm checking out the oils on my shelf and decided on the truffle oil to saute my mushrooms in. After reading the link above on truffle oil, I see that truffle oil should be heated only briefly and/or added at the end for an earthy flavor addition. Not a problem. I thought it would add more mushroomy flavor to the mushrooms. Couldn't really tell any difference with the truffle oil, so you could use olive oil and butter.

I sauteed the mushrooms first in the truffle oil, then added the chopped peppers. Rosie Cooking Tip #42: Don't salt the shrooms until after they've cooked. Salting during sauteing causes the shrooms to release moisture and they steam, not saute.

Next I added in my salted and peppered tomato.

And the onions went in. Heat through, cover, and set aside.

I sprinkled the red snapper with freshly ground salt and pepper and Old Bay Seasoning.

I heated half olive oil and half butter in my pan. I use Bertolli Extra Light Olive Oil and Land o' Lakes Unsalted Butter pretty much exclusively. I add in the olive oil to raise the smoke point of the butter and I use the butter for the flavor. I let the butter slightly brown since that imparts a nice nutty flavor. I added a bit of onion and garlic and placed my snapper in the pan.

I cooked the first side about 3 minutes.

Then turned the fillets over (Notice it's not quite cooked through.) ... ... and poured about 1/2 cup Chardonnay in the pan, turned off the heat, and covered the pan. The fillets are not cooked all the way through. There's a bit of pink uncooked meat inside. I'll let the residual heat cook it through. I heated up the veggies and added the black olives, and some basil

And I topped the snapper with oregano and parsley.

Succulent, tender, flaky red snapper.

I plated a bed of the veggies first ...

... then placed the fish on top.

I love it when I prepare a dish and I can taste every single flavor in it.

The red snapper was perfectly cooked, juicy, and delicate, but not overpowered by any of the other flavors.

The menage a trois of parsley, basil, and oregano added a lovely dimension to this dish. The vegetables worked well together. Their freshness was noticeable and complemented the snapper. The fish was sweet and delicate and the sweetness balanced nicely with the saltiness of the olives. Win/win. Post Script: Sometimes after making a dish, I try to think of variations - that something extra that would set it apart from what's already a qibswedyk* dish to another level. And I have an idea for this one. Next time I do it, I will add artichoke hearts to the veggies and serve it all on a bed of Jasmine rice. *Don't know what qibswedyk means? I've posted about it before. It's my new word which I coined and I want it in the dictionary. Rachael has her EVOO and Yummo and stoups and sammies. GAH!!! I have my qibswedyk. Qibswedyk. I serendipitously invented this word when TWD. (That's typing while drinking.) I was typing out the word "wonderful" and my fingers were moved over one key to the left. Hence, qibswedyk.