Veracruz Sauce Recipe for Fish, Chicken or Pork Tenderloin
This is an adaptation of another meal we received from Blue Apron and our favorite of the three. You may recall the recipe I posted for 3 - Chili Beef Chili and talked about this new service (to us) called Blue Apron where you receive groceries and recipes for three meals each week.
It saves you some time on shopping and gets you out of your comfort level by trying new and interesting recipes you just may never get around to.
The entire meal consisted of tilapia that is first lightly browned in a pan and then finished cooking in the sauce. This is all served over yellow basmati rice. The reason I didn't post the entire recipe is because I think this is a versatile sauce that can be served over not only fish but chicken or pork tenderloin medallions.
The process of starting the cooking process in the frying pan with a little oil and then finishing in the sauce would work for all three. The cooking times may be somewhat different, but I think you'll find the final results all amazing because the sauce is so good.
A Little Bit on Veracruz
Veracruz is located on the eastern coastline of Mexico right on the Gulf of Mexico. The cuisine is influenced by both traditional Mexican cooking and the ingredients that came into its port town from Spain including spices and grains.
And because it is a coastal area, seafood is an essential ingredient in many of their local recipes although I'm not sure how much tilapia can be found there. I believe a more popular local fish served with this Veracruz sauce would be red snapper or huachinango as it is called in Spanish.
Sauce Veracruz Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 onions white or yellow, peeled and dice
- 6 cloves garlic peeled and minced
- 30 ounces diced tomatoes
- 2 jalapeno peppers cut in half, seeds and ribs removed, then minced finely
- 1 lime zest removed and minced finely - reserve lemon
- 24 green olives like Castelvetrano or manzanillas, pitted and finely chopped
- 2 tablespoon capers rinsed
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 sprigs fresh oregano leaves removed and reserved and stems discarded
- 2 tablespoon fresh parsley finely chopped
- 1 cup white wine if you don't cook with wine, substitute water
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat a medium sized saucepan over medium heat. When hot, add the olive oil and then add the onion. Saute until the onions begin to soften and become translucent, about 10 minutes.
- Add the garlic and cook for another minute or two.
- Add the tomatoes (with juice), stir, lower heat and simmer for 7 - 10 minutes.
- Add the jalapeno peppers, lime zest, olives, capers, cinnamon, bay leaves, oregano, parsley and wine (water). Stir to combine all the ingredients and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes until the sauce has cooked down to the consistency you like.
- Taste and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper.
- Before serving, be sure to remove the bay leaves so there are no surprises.
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