Around 1976, my sister’s boss and his wife gave her a cookbook as a Christmas present. She loved it so much that every member of the family purchased The California Heritage Cookbook and used it to make Banana Nut Bread, Carrot Cake, Chili Cheese Casserole, and Red Snapper Vera Cruz. Our respective books have gone through the ringer. Pages are stained, falling out, brown, and brittle from the many years of use. Mine even has a brown burned coil mark from me being too focused on cooking food and not the safety of the book. 

Imagine my surprise 40 years later,  when I was working with Collette Lee at the Riverside Academy of Arts, and discovered she was the person who had originally gifted the book to my sister Lorelei. I pieced the puzzle together when I discovered that a silent auction item was a cooked and delivered dinner of Red Snapper Vera Cruz. I noticed Lorelei talking with her old boss, Gary Lee (Collette’s husband), and realized the item up for auction was not only the recipe from my family’s favorite cookbook, but that Collette was responsible for gifting that cookbook to our family. Talk about Kevin Bacon and the six steps of separation.

Recipe from California Heritage Cookbook – Serves 8

Ingredients

• 3 lb Red Snapper filets (6 to 8 filets)
• 1 t Salt
• ½ C Fresh lime juice
• ¼ C Olive oil
• 2 Cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 Onion, thinly sliced
• 1 can Diced tomatoes (14.5 oz)
• 1 T Tomato paste
• 1 Bay leaf
• ½ t Dried oregano
• 18 Green olives pitted and cut in half
• 2 T Capers minced
• 2 Jalapeño chilies (seeded and cut into strips)
• ¼ C Lemon juice

Directions

• Place the red snapper into a shallow two-quart casserole. Rub the fish with salt and lime juice.  Pierce the fish with a fork to aid in the penetration of the lime juice. Marinate for three to four hours, turning occasionally. 
• Place the olive oil in a heavy 12-inch skillet.  Add the onion to the skillet and cook for five minutes on medium-low heat until the onions are tender.  Add the chilies and cook for three minutes. Then add the garlic and oregano to the skillet, cook for one additional minute.  
• Add tomatoes, tomato paste, bay leaf, green olives, capers, and lemon juice to the skillet. Cook while stirring over moderate heat for 10 – 15 minutes until the mixture is thickened and some moisture has evaporated. 
• Place the red snapper filets in a baking dish, large enough to hold them in one layer.  
• Cover the fish evenly with the tomato sauce mixture.  
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Bake fish uncovered for 20 – 30 minutes or until the fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.