This is a style of cooking fish in Sonora and Sinaloa which was adapted to home ovens in Pati Jinich’s book Treasures of the Mexican Table.  The quantities below are sized for 2 persons.  At Pati’s suggestion, we served the fish with corn tortillas as tacos.  Carol thought it did not need the tortillas and would be good with side dishes such as rice.

2 large cherry tomatoes

3 cloves garlic, unpeeled

¼ onion, peeled

1 fresh Anaheim or Hungarian wax pepper (i.e. something midly spicy)

2 Tbs. fresh lime juice

2 Tbs. mayonnaise

1 Tbs. crema, crème fraiche, or heavy cream

1-1/2 Tbs. yellow mustard

1 Tbs. soy sauce

1-1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbs. unsalted butter, softened

½ tsp. kosher salt

¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Vegetable oil or cooking spray

1.75 lb. snapper, split and deboned

Preheat the broiler.  Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and put in a rack.  Broil the tomatoes, garlic, onion, and pepper until they are blistered and charred.  Remove the tomatoes, garlic and onion to a plate  when done.  When the pepper is done, put it in a plastic bag to steam off the skin.  Remove the skin when it is cool enough to work with.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Line a baking sheet pan with aluminum foil. Coat the aluminum foil with vegetable oil or cooking spray.  Put the split fish on top of the aluminum foil.

Put in a blender the roasted vegetables and the sauce and spice ingredients.  Blend until smooth.  Pour the sauce over the fish covering it fully.

Roast the fish for 20-30 minutes until it is cooked through and the sauce is a bit crusty.