Delicious weeknight meal: Red Snapper

I picked up a large fillet of red snapper at Fiesta Farms a few days ago, and knew I wanted to create something interesting with it. My usual fallback with fish is to simply pan-fry (sometimes after marinading it, sometimes just with salt and pepper) and then serve with a salad or over rice or pasta.

A quick websearch turned up dozens of delicious sounding recipes, but I finally settled on this one from Epicurious.com. I modified it a bit to suit the ingredients I had in the house, and reduced the number of servings. Here are my modifications. Sorry for the lack of picture, folks!

Red Snapper with Potatoes, Tomatoes, and Red Wine

2 large potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1/2 tablespoon butter
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, sliced
3 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 cup vegetable broth or chicken stock
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 teaspoon dried basil (I’m sure oregano would be tasty, but I’m out!)
2 tablespoons Kalamata olives or other brine-cured black olives
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 7-ounce red snapper fillets

Steam potatoes until almost tender, about 8 minutes. Cool.

Melt butter with 1 tablespoon oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and saute until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Mix in 1 tablespoon oil and garlic. Add potatoes; cook 2 minutes. Mix in red wine and boil until very little liquid remains, about 4 minutes.  Add stock, tomatoes and basil and bring to boil. Add olives and boil until liquid thickens slightly and potatoes are very tender, about 12 minutes. Mix in half of the parsley. Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, sprinkle fish with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add fish fillets and sauté until just opaque in center, about 3 minutes per side.

Arrange potatoes in center of 2 plates. Spoon some sauce over. Top with fish. Spoon remaining sauce over fish. Sprinkle with remaining parsley. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil and serve.