Escovitch fish
Jamaican-style crisp fried fish under a tangy, peppery pickle of onions, carrots and peppers, bright and a little fiery.
- 45 min total
- 35 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 4
- About $2.22 a serving
- 600 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ cups long-grain white rice, rinsed
- 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 1 carrot, cut into thin matchsticks
- ½ red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 jalapeño, thinly sliced, seeded for less heat
- 1¼ lb frozen white fish fillets, thawed and patted very dry
From your pantry
- 2¼ cups water
- 1½ tsp salt, divided
- ¾ cup white vinegar
- 1 tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp black pepper, divided
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
Each serving has about 600 calories, 28 g protein, 73 g carbs and 20 g fat, and costs about $2.22 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No long-grain white rice? Jasmine rice or basmati rice works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No red bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Put the rice, water and ½ teaspoon of the salt in a medium and over high heat.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cover, turn the heat to low and cook for 15 minutes, then leave it covered off the heat.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
Bring the vinegar, sugar, ½ teaspoon of the salt, half the pepper and the thyme in a small over medium heat.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Medium heat
Add the onion, carrot, bell pepper and jalapeño, for 1 minute, then take the pan off the heat.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Dolly’s tip: One minute keeps the vegetables crisp. They soften more as they sit in the hot vinegar.the fish with the rest of the salt and pepper, then it in the cornstarch and shake off the extra.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Heat the oil in a large over medium-high heat until it . Fry the fish in batches for 3 to 4 minutes per side, until , and it flakes easily.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Shimmering oil. Oil shimmers when it’s hot enough to cook: its surface looks rippled and wavy, like heat over a road. That’s your cue to add the food, just before the oil would start to smoke.
How you’ll know: The oil looks wavy and runs thin like water when you tilt the pan, with no smoke yet.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Medium-high heatTimer: 7 min
Dolly’s tip: Two or three pieces at a time keeps the oil hot and the crust crisp.Food safety: Fish is done at 145°F, when the middle looks opaque and flakes apart easily with a fork.
the fish on paper towels, then lay it on a platter.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Spoon the pickled vegetables and some of their vinegar over the hot fish and let it sit for 5 minutes. Serve with the rice.
Timer: 5 min
Dolly’s tip: It’s even better after a night in the fridge, once the fish has soaked up the pickle. Eat it cold or at room temperature.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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