I had the leftover mixed seafood and I wasn't sure what I should make... so pescado a lo macho popped into my head. I've had it a few times from Bravo in Wilton Manors and Limon y Sabor in Miami, and also a really bad one from La Granja in Oakland Park. I found what seemed to be a good way of cooking it:
http://www.tastydays.com/videos/pescado-a-lo-macho
I more of less followed the chef's video with a few substitutions. I didn't have any mussels or yuca and I added some thin sliced potatoes and zucchini. I also found that my sauce wasn't runny enough so I added almost a whole can of tomato sauce, which made it a little sweeter than I wanted. Next time I'd puree a fresh tomato and use that. Definitely it's a must to make the sauce a seafood separate from frying the fish fillet.
Onions, garlic, tomatoes, cilantro, zucchini:
I liked the chef's use of a small amount of roux to thicken the sauce. I never think to use roux, probably because I am in Asian mode. So this was definitely something I haven't done in a while.
I had frozen ocean perch in the freezer so I used that:
I'm not even sure what some of this stuff is...I wish I had some whole squid and mussels, it makes it looks better:
Red chili paste which I made from soaking and pureeing dried chiles de árbol, and some of the frozen sofrito that I made a few weeks ago, fried in hot oil:
Adding cilantro gives a fresh look and flavor:
