Crispy-skin snapper with tomatillo salsa and spiced marrow

Fish and marrows: two things I have plenty of access to when staying at my parents’ beach place around at this time of the year. A rampicante marrow is an odd-shaped summer marrow that I have never come across but find that any marrow works well in this dish. Tomatillos are also not grown in our garden but cape gooseberries do and they worked nicely as a substitute. Or you could always use tomatoes.

Tomatillo salsa

2 ½	Tomatillos, cut into 1cm dice, *see notes (Main)
2	Red capsicums, roasted, peeled and seeded, cut into 1cm dice
⅓ cup	Red onions, finely diced
½ cup	Chopped fresh coriander, leaves only
1 Tbsp	Red chilli, finely chopped
1 tsp	Spanish smoked sweet paprika
1 Tbsp	Cumin seeds, toasted in a dry pan and ground
1 tsp	Sugar
⅓ cup	Olive oil

Spiced marrow

18 pieces	Marrow, rampicante, cut into 1cm rounds
18 pieces	Zucchini, cut into 1cm thick rounds
2 Tbsp	Olive oil
1 Tbsp	Spanish smoked sweet paprika
1 Tbsp	Cumin seeds, toastd un a dry pan and ground

To cook and serve

6 fillets	Snapper, 150g each, skin on (Main)
1 serving	Cooking oil
2	Lemons, cut into wedges

Directions

Tomatillo salsa

Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl, seasoning to taste with salt and pepper. Add more lemon juice if needed. Refrigerate until required.

Spiced marrow

1. Place the marrow and zucchini in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Coat with the oil and spices and season with salt and pepper.
2. Heat a skillet over a medium heat. Saute the vegetable rounds on both sides until coloured. Transfer to an oven tray and set aside.

To cook and serve

1. Heat the oven to 150C.
2. Place a skillet or saute pan over a medium heat. Take a sharp knife and score each snapper portion a couple of times just through the skin — this will help the fish stay flat in the pan, ensuring even cooking. Season the snapper fillets.
3. Add a little cooking oil to the pan then cook the snapper in batches, skin-side down, until golden and crisp. Turn and continue to cook the fillets until just done. Remove and keep warm while you finish cooking the other fillets.
4. Place the spiced marrow in the oven to reheat for 2 minutes.
5. Lay the cooked vegetables in the centre of your heated plates, top with your snapper, crispy-skin side up. Generously spoon the tomatillo salsa over the fish and serve with a wedge of lemon.

*Tomatillos are related to and look like a green tomato, except they grow in a delicate husk that looks like a Chinese lantern, similar to a Cape gooseberry. Al says they taste like a mix between an apple and a green tomato.