The lesson here: you can use any type of lean white fish and it will turn out just fine! If you want to know what types of fish would be a good substitute for red snapper, you can check out the New York Seafood Council's handy fish substitutions chart. I would suggest using tilapia, rockfish, or maybe halibut. Tilapia might be a good choice if you are new to cooking and eating fish!
Next, I added half a teaspoon of olive oil to one side of each piece of snapper, and used a rubber brush to spread the olive oil evenly. Then I squeezed a few drops of fresh lemon juice on each fillet--roughly half a teaspoon per piece--and then seasoned with salt and pepper.
Ingredients (Serves 2):
- 2-3 red snapper fillets without skin (or any other white fish, such as tilapia or halibut)
- 4 tsps olive oil
- juice of 1/2 a lemon
- 1/2 tsp salt, plus more for seasoning
- black pepper for seasoning
- 3 tbsps tandoori masala
- 1 tsp cooking oil
- 1/2 tbsp butter
- 1/4 a small onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1 cup corn, fresh or frozen and thawed
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- optional: chives or green onions for garnish
Recipe (Serves 2):
- Coat each fillet with 1/2 tsp of olive oil per side of fillet (a total of 1 tsp of olive oil per fillet).
- Squeeze a few drops of lemon juice on each side of each fillet, and season each side with salt and pepper.
- Add 1/2 a tbsp of tandoori masala to each side of each fillet, and rub the masala into the fit using your hands to create a coating.
- Wrap each fillet in saran wrap and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.
- When ready to cook the fish, add the cooking oil and butter to a pan over low heat, making sure the oil and butter do not burn. Move the pan to coat the bottom with the oil and butter mixture.
- Add the fish fillets to the pan and turn up the heat to medium-low. Cover and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side.
- While the fish is cooking on its first side, heat 1 tsp of olive oil and the cumin seeds in another pan over medium-low heat. Once the oil heats and bubbles start to form around the seeds, add the corn and increase the heat to medium.
- Once both sides of the fish have cooked, remove them from the pan and wrap them loosely in aluminum foil.
- Lower the heat and add the onions and garlic to the pan in which the fish was cooking until the onions brown. Let the wine reduce slightly. Add the wine and the remaining lemon juice from the lemon.
- Return the fillets to the pan and cover with the onions and garlic. Let the fish cook in the pan for another 2 minutes.
- Add 1/2 tsp of salt to the corn and stir.
- Place each fillet on a plate and top with the onions and garlic from the pan, the corn, and garnish with chives or green onions if desired.