Snapper

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Serve with: Warm corn tortillas, Spanish rice, and grilled zucchini. Dessert: Fresh coconut cake from the bakery.

With boiled potatoes and grilled vegetables, you have an easy dinner. Lemon sole or red snapper could be substituted for grouper. The sauce—our take on a Spanish classic—can also be used as a dip for vegetables or to spread on grilled bread.

Red snapper is the fish of choice in Veracruz, Mexico, where this dish originated. The combination of the cinnamon, olives, capers, and peppers gives the sauce heat and depth. This is a quick, light dish, good with boiled potatoes and rice.

Serve this saucy dish with steamed rice or crusty French bread.

Pla Phad Phrik Khing The pummelo salad makes a nice first course with this dish.

Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 2 hr

Complement the entrée—and the Chinese theme—with rice, stir-fried snow peas, then pineapple sherbet topped with coconut.

Steaming, a method often used by Asian cooks, works well with delicately flavored red snapper, since the aromatics (ginger, scallion, chile) are easily absorbed by the fish.

Pescado Zarandeado Although you can broil the fish, it is at its best when cooked outside (placing the fish in a grill basket makes it easier to turn over on the barbecue). Ask the fishmonger to remove the head and scales and to clean and butterfly the fish.

With steamed asparagus and some rice or mashed potatoes, this easy dish is elegant enough for company.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. The coconut milk can be found in the Asian foods section of most supermarkets.