Mixed Seafood Salad (Insalata ai Frutti di Mare)
This is a wonderful Christmas Eve appetizer but is tasty year round. This seafood salad often contains octopus as well as shrimps, scallops, and calamari, but if you prefer, you can certainly leave the octopus out. The octopus requires a much longer cooking time, so if you choose to include it, you will need to add an additional hour or so to your preparation time.
Rao's in New York adds carrot, onion, celery and leaks to their cooking stock. Instead of bay leaves, they use thyme. Their choice of fish on the Bobby Flay throwdown was calamari, shrimp, lump crab and lobster medallions. Their dressing is olive oil, lemon juice, white pepper & salt.
Mixed Seafood Salad (Insalata ai Frutti di Mare) Calabrians keep their seafood salad simple so the shellfish flavor stands out. It's a juicy dish, so be sure to offer bread for dipping. Prep and Cook Time: about 1 1/2 hours, plus 2 hours to marinate. You can make this salad up to a day ahead through step 9 and keep it, covered, in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature before serving. Notes: Squid (also called calamari) are frequently sold, cleaned and cut up, as tubes (mantles), tubes and tentacles, or rings (sliced tubes). Fresh squid is sometimes available at fish shops and Asian groceries; call ahead to have it cleaned, or use thawed frozen, which is easier to find. Sometimes a few uncleaned tubes slip through; just pull out and discard any long, clear quills and rinse out tubes. 1 pound mussels 1. Scrub mussels with a stiff brush under cold running water. Remove any fibrous beards from mussels. Throw away any mussels with open shells. 2. Soak clams in a bowl, covered with cold water, 15 minutes. Lift out and scrub with a stiff brush under cold running water. Rinse bowl and put clams back in. Cover with fresh cold water, soak 15 minutes, and lift out, leaving any sand in bowl. Keep rinsing clams until no sand remains in bowl. 3. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Set a bowl of ice water nearby. Boil shrimp just until pink, about 2 minutes. Using a strainer, transfer to ice water to stop cooking. 4. Add squid to boiling water. Once pot has returned to boil, cook squid until tentacles curl back and rings are opaque, 45 seconds to 1 minute. Drain well, pat dry with paper towels, and add to bowl of shrimp. 5. Put 1 tbsp. water (to just cover the bottom) in a 4-qt. saucepan and add cleaned mussels. Cover and cook over high heat until mussels open, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Pick out and throw away any mussels that fail to open. Transfer mussels to a clean bowl and let cool 20 minutes. 6. Add cleaned clams and 1 tbsp. water to pan and steam, covered, over high heat until they open, 1 1/2 minutes. Pick out and throw away any clams that fail to open. Let cool 20 minutes in pan. 7. Add cooled mussels and clams to bowl of squid and shrimp (leave liquid behind). 8. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, 1/2 cup lemon juice, the garlic, and parsley. Whisk in 1 tsp. salt and several grinds of black pepper. 9. Pour dressing over seafood and stir gently to bathe with dressing. Let salad marinate at room temperature for 2 hours, tossing occasionally so flavors blend. 10. Just before serving, taste and season with additional lemon or salt if you like. Serve in shallow bowls, with plenty of the marinade spooned over. 8 servings |
Holiday Seafood Salad Cooking stock & fish: Dressing: In a stockpot, combine 3 quarts of water, the wine, bay leaves, and crushed garlic. Slice the lemons in half and squeeze the juice into the mixture. Drop the lemons into the pot. Bring the mixture first to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low. First cook the shrimp, cook 2 minutes and remove from the pot. Cook the calamari 1 1/2 minutes and remove from the pot as well. If you are cooking scallops, cook in the same manner for 2 minutes. Mix the seafood together and set aside. If you are cooking octopus, add it to the pot, and cook it for about 45 minutes to an hour or until it is tender. Remove it from the pot and let it cool. Remove the skin and suckers, and cut it into bite sized pieces. Mix the octopus with the other ingredients. Place the seafood in a bowl and add the chopped celery. Add the dressing ingredients and mix well. Cover and let marinade a minimum of 12 hours. Just before serving, adjust the seasonings, and add the black olives if you are using them. Serve. Serves 6 |
