Fish Wednesday, Drunken Snapper Edition

Disclaimer: Tonight’s Fish Wednesday is sponsored, unofficially, by Three Olives Vodka. Why? Because they sent me the sample vodka I used in the recipe. Just so you know, I’m not much of a drinker, so I’ll bypass the deep analysis of the vodka and tell you what we had for dinner.

Drunken Snapper
Penne with Vodka is one of those classic recipes – easy to make, mildly impressive, and always delicious. There are lots of variations but I think all the basics involve making a red sauce with a generous helping of vodka and heavy cream tossed in. The recipe that came with my bottle of Tomato Vodka calls for heavy cream and Parmesan cheese, but I wanted to make fish and I don’t typcially care for fish in cream sauce, it’s a little too Swedish for my Mediterranean tastes.

I amended the basic recipe by simply leaving out the dairy products and doubling the vodka for good measure. When it was almost done, I dropped a nice piece of snapper in the pan. The sauce was sweet, had a little bite, and was great over flax penne with salt cured Nicoise olives and green salad on the side. Yum

Want to make it? It’s easy. This made the perfect amount for two.

  • 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
  • 2 Roma tomatoes, diced
  • 1/2 c. tomato puree
  • 1c. of vodka – I used Three Olives Tomato
  • Fresh ground black pepper
  • Chili oil
  • 1/2 pound snapper fillet

Saute the onion until it’s just starting to brown. Add the two diced Romas – don’t use crappy supermarket tomatoes, get good ones, it makes all the difference. Grind some black pepper over it and when the tomatoes are giving up their sauce, add about half a cup of tomato puree. Pour in half a cup of tomato vodka (it’s what I had and I think the tomato flavor helps, but you can use regular vodka too, of course. If you’re so inclined, add a splash of chili oil. When all that has simmered down to a nice thick sauce, add the snapper fillet and another half a cup of vodka. Cook it until most of the liquid is gone – the sauce should be really thick and the fish should be falling apart.

Serve it over penne and wash it down with the red wine you have left on the counter from last time you made red sauce.  It might also be nice to run the sauce through the food processor until it’s smooth, grill the fish, and pour the reheated sauce over the fish and the pasta, but when you’re cooking with vodka, things like the food processor seem unnecessarily complicated.

Eat your fish. It makes you willing to try new things. Like flavored vodka.

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