Today at the market I couldn’t resist the beautiful, fresh, whole snappers for sale. I decided to give this recipe from the Food Network a try. I turned out to be delicious and super easy. I served this with some sautéed asparagus and a green salad.

Ingredients:

2 Tbl high quality butter*

1 ½ to 2 lbs whole snapper, cleaned, head and tail removed, and butterflied open, bones removed (ask the store to do this for you)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 Tbl garlic powder

1 Tbl tomato paste

1 teaspoon of hot sauce

2 limes, halved

1 orange

Preheat to oven to 350°. Line a large baking sheet with foil and dot with 1Tbl of butter.

Open the fish and place skin side down on the baking sheet. Roll up the edges of the foil to come close to the edge of the fish to prevent the juices from spilling onto the baking sheet. Sprinkle the fish with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the fish with the garlic powder and then spread the tomato paste onto the fish. Drizzle the fish with the hot sauce and then squeeze the limes over. Cut and squeeze the orange juice all over the fish. Then, using the flesh side of the orange, brush the fish all over to form a wet paste on top of the fish. Dot the fish with the remaining butter.

Bake the fish until just cooked through, about 15 minutes. Turn on the broiler and broil until browned, 8 to 10 minutes.

*Substitute olive oil for the butter if you’re dairy free.