Maya Citrus Salsa (Xec) With Red Snapper
IT was a long time ago, but I remember well the first time I was treated to xec, the Maya salsa made almost entirely out of citrus. I had been served similar but fancier concoctions in restaurants, but in Mérida, Mexico, xec (pronounced “shek”) was presented with a total lack of pretense. Both its simplicity and its taste amazed me. In the Yucatán, one can get some pretty good citrus, including the sour orange we almost never see up north. But as I later discovered, almost any citrus combination works. I like the flesh of an orange, a grapefruit (small) and a lemon (big), along with cilantro and a tiny bit of habanero chili, which some people call a Scotch bonnet. Only a habanero has the right mix of heat, fragrance and flavor. A couple of limes would be fine, a bitter orange even better. But if you have just one lime, use it. When you take this slightly hot, quite sweet, sour and extremely juicy sauce and pair it with fish (chicken, yes; pork or beef, sure; but primarily fish), something really magical happens: a bunch of rather ordinary ingredients becomes quite splendid. It doesn’t really matter how you cook the fish, but I like the method in this recipe. I have served xec with poached shrimp, sautéed skate, grilled swordfish and roast tuna. They were all terrific.
1 orange
1 small grapefruit
1 large lemon
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 habanero or other chili, seeded and minced, or to taste
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons oil
4 red snapper fillets, 4 to 6 ounces each, preferably skin on (and scaled)
1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Cut orange in half horizontally and section it as you would a grapefruit; do this over a bowl to capture all its juice. Remove seeds and combine flesh and juice in bowl. Repeat with grapefruit and lemon. Stir in cilantro, habanero and salt.
2. Put oil in a nonstick or cast-iron skillet over medium high heat. A minute later, add fish, skin side down; season top with salt. Cook until skin begins to crisp, 3 or 4 minutes, then transfer to oven. Cook another 3 or 4 minutes, or until a thin-bladed knife meets little resistance when inserted into thickest part of fish. Serve fish with xec, immediately.