First Chilean Cooking Adventure

I signed up for more Spanish classes because I had a bit more time than expected before work starts and my Spanish still sucks. While I was in the office getting that all squared away, Luciano asked me if I liked cooking. All of you of course know that I do. When I told him that my specialty is "comida vegetariana," he laughed, as I had expected. I then explained to him that I had been vegetarian for 12 years in the U.S., but in Chile I gave that up in order to really embrace the culture blah blah, what I really meant was not starve to death. Well, it turns out that Luciano had the perfect fish market and recipe in mind for my first Chilean non-vegetarian cooking adventure, and Luciano never disappoints. Yesterday afternoon, only friend and I set off to try it out.

This is the fish market on the boarder of Vina del Mar and Valparaiso. Julie and I, being the geniuses we are , decided to go at 3:00 in the afternoon when most of the vendors were gone for the day. Luckily, one was still open and graciously overcharged us for our fish of choice, which he also deheaded and definned and degutted and stuff. Reineta is what the recipe called for, so thats what we got. You can see them there on the table and appetizingly sitting there it the red plastic crate. I looked reineta up on the internet and couldn't find out much about it. Apparently they only exist in this area??
This is a picture of lovely Julie with the finished product. Below that is a picture of the enormous quantity of fish and potatoes that Owen, her roommate, proceeded to consume. MMMmmmm....


It was so easy and turned out so yummy that I want to give you all the recipe as well. Unfortunately, I doubt that you will find reineta outside of Chile and I don't have enough experience cooking fish to offer a suggestion for a substitution. Halibut maybe?

Pescado de Luciano

1 large reineta (this is lots and lots of fish)
1 large onion, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 liter white wine
aji de color (I have no idea what this is, but its not spicy. My best guess is paprika.)
salt and pepper

Lightly oil a large baking dish. Sprinkle the onions and garlic evenly in the dish. Place the fish on top and sprinkle that liberally with salt and pepper. Pour half a liter or so of white wine over the whole mix and sprinkle with a little more salt and some aji de color (paprika). Bake in a 350 degree oven (this is a guess, the oven temperatures here range from 1-10) for 15-20 minutes. Eat it. Love it.

Besos,
Allie