Instructions: To roast the chili peppers, cut in half lengthwise, remove the seeds and pith. Lightly coat the peppers with oil and roast under a broiler, cut side down, until the skin of the pepper chars and bubbles. Place the peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap until cool. Peel away the charred skins. Do not rinse away the little roasted bits; they add flavor.

Combine all sauce ingredients except the red onion, garlic and stock. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and set aside. This can be done in advance.

Prepare the shrimp by removing the heads (just twist them off,) peel and de-vein. Reserve all the shells and the heads for the shrimp stock.

Prepare shrimp stock (see recipe below). This can also be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated for up to 2 days, or frozen.

To prepare the dish, season the fish lightly with salt and pepper, and lightly dust with all- purpose flour. Heat approximately 3 tablespoons olive oil

In a saute pan over medium-high heat until very hot, slightly smoking. Shake off any excess flour from the fish and add to the pan. Saute the fish until a light brown crust is formed, being careful not to move the fish before the crust is formed. Turn the fish once, and do the same on the other side. Be careful not to burn the fish; adjust the heat as needed. Remove the fish from the pan.

Saute the onions and garlic briefly in the remaining oil. When the garlic starts to turn a light brown color, add the stock. This is called deglazing. You want to incorporate into the sauce any browned bits of food that have stuck to the bottom of the saute pan. Turn the heat to high and reduce the stock until the onions are soft and there is approximately 1/4 cup of liquid left in the pan. Add the tomato mixture and the shrimp to the pan and heat through.

Return the fish to the pan by placing right on top of the sauce, cover the pan, reduce the heat to medium and simmer for a few minutes until the fish is cooked through.

To serve, carefully remove the fish with a spatula and place on your plate.

Spoon the sauce and the shrimp over the top. Serve with some good crusty bread that can be used to mop up any remaining sauce at the end of the meal.

A quick note on stocks

I cant emphasize enough my belief that good cooking is primarily the result of using good ingredients. One of my favorite things to cook with is a good homemade stock as it adds a depth of flavor that you cant get with bouillon cubes or base.

You dont necessarily have to slave over the stove for an entire day to get good results. If you have a crock pot, you can simply place the ingredients in and simmer them while you are at work. You can save scraps of celery, onion, carrots and parsley in a freezer bag and when you have enough you can make a stock. Chicken is very inexpensive when you buy the whole bird. You can quarter the chicken and use the carcass, wing tips and neck for the stock pot. Just freeze until you have enough. Even the leftover carcass of a whole roasted bird can be used in the stock pot. Thanksgiving is coming! Dont throw away that turkey carcass after the big meal. It makes an excellent stock!

In a pinch, you can buy an inexpensive family pack of chicken wings or a beef brisket and use that instead of scraps. I feel that stock is not something to get too uptight about, especially when used in a sauce.

For the recipe above, I purchased shrimp with the heads still on. The heads and the rest of the shells were used to make a small amount of shrimp stock. If you cant find shrimp with heads on, ask your fish monger if they have any salt water fish bones you can use for stock. Fresh water bones dont work very well.

If you dont want to fuss, you can use chicken stock or white wine instead for the Gulf Red Snapper and Shrimp in Roasted Chili Tomato Sauce recipe above.

Quick and Simple Shrimp Stock

This stock recipe is designed specifically for using in sauces, so I am not concerned about creating a perfect stock. I just want it to be quick and easy with lots of flavor.

Peels and heads from 8 to 12 shrimp, or about a pound of very fresh fish bones
1 carrot, rough chop
1 stalk celery, rough chop
1 large yellow or white onion, rough chop. Dont even bother peeling.

1 bay leaf
2 cloves garlic, slightly crushed with the flat of a knife 4 sprigs parsley
1/2 cup dry white wine (optional)

Enough water to just cover ingredients, but not more than about 2 cups. Rinse the shrimp shells in cold water and drain. Combine the ingredients in a sauce pan, bring to a simmer, cover and cook for approximately 40 minutes to one hour.

Unlike other meat stocks, do not cook for more than an hour as the aroma and flavor will start to cook out of the shrimp stock. Strain through a fine mesh strainer. Your stock is ready to use. David Bulla is a chef living in Austin, Texas.

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