Steamed Fish with Fish Gravy

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Title: Steamed Fish with Fish Gravy
Categories: African, Seafood, Ceideburg 2
Yield: 4 servings

1 Whole red snapper or
-similar fish, 2 to 4
-pounds, gutted and split
With the head on
1 Lime
1 ts Salt
1 ts Freshly ground pepper
8 Garlic cloves, minced
2 tb White wine vinegar
1 Fresh hot pepper, minced
2 md Onions, thinly sliced
1 sm Green pepper, thinly sliced
1 lb Shrimp
1 Fish head
3 c Water
1 Stalk celery
2 tb Vegetable oil
1 c Flour
1 Bay leaf
1/2 ts Thyme

Here's one that I though you might like as it's African in origin.
Looks pretty tasty to me! Although it calls the fish "steamed" it
would probably be more accurate to call it braised.

Wash the fish with the juice of the lime. Rinse, drain and pat dry.
Cut 3 or 4 diagonal gashes in each side of the fish, cutting forward
toward the head.

Make a mixture of the salt, pepper, 2 cloves of the garlic, the
vinegar and a little of the minced hot pepper. Grind to a paste.
Rub the gashes and the inside surfaces of the fish with the paste.
Place the fish in a flat glass baking dish and cover with the onions
(reserving a few), the green pepper and the remaining garlic and hot
pepper. Marinate for one hour.

Meanwhile, shell the shrimp, reserving the shells. Coarsely chop the
shrimp and set aside. Place the shells and the extra fish head in a
large saucepan with the water, reserved onion and celery. Simmer for
15 minutes.

Heat the oil in a large cast-iron skillet. Shake the marinade off
the fish and dredge the fish in flour. Fry quickly, for 3 to 4
minutes on each side, until golden brown but not done. Lower the
heat and add the marinade vegetables. Pour in 2 cups of the
fish-shrimp stock. Add the bay leaf, thyme and a little more salt
and pepper. Cover and simmer gently for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove
the fish and vegetables with a slotted spoon to a serving dish. Set
aside and keep warm.

Add 2 tablespoons flour to the skillet and stir. Cook slowly,
scraping the bottom of the skillet, until the gravy starts to
thicken. Strain the gravy and return it to the now clean skillet.
Add the shrimp and cook until they turn pink and the gravy is thick.
Serve the shrimp gravy over the fish.

Serves 4 to 6.

From the "Family of the Spirit Cookbook: Recipes and Remembrances
from African-American Kitchens," by John Pinderhughes (Simon and
Schuster. 1990).

The author recommends that if you can't get another fish head,
decapitate the fish and use it to make the stock. Snapper is called
for but he says that Hawaiian relatives of snapper ++onaga, opakapaka
or ta'ape can be substituted as can Pacific rockfish.

Posted by Stephen Ceideburg; January 23 1991.

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