L’Insalata di Mare a/k/a Seafood Salad is a staple throughout Italy during the Summer Months. It is refreshing and well accompanied by a great glass of Pinot Grigio or my favorite L’isola by Cusumano. Here it goes my English version … Enjoy
Seafood salad is a traditional dish of fish, which can be served as a main dish or dinner. But it is also ideal, in small portions, as a starter, especially in the lunches of fish or on special occasions such as Christmas. Besides the seafood salad it is also a fresh and light dish and perfect for this reason, even in summer. This famous salad is generally prepared with the basic ingredients, which are indicated in the recipe below, but can be enriched at will or otherwise varied according to the tastes and needs.
The seafood salad is a recipe often served in the best restaurants, just like a starter. This is because in its simplicity, when it is made with fresh ingredients, allows you to appreciate all the good taste of the sea, with all its variety of fish. For this recipe they prefer mussels, crustaceans and shrimp, but all kinds of favorite fish can be added or indeed those who find fresh to the bench.
The seafood salad is one of the recipes of my family, which typically enriches it with carrots and celery cut into very small cubes, sometimes even with green olives. I recommend you try the recipe as I prepare myself, and serve a seafood salad rich in flavor and color.
How to make the seafood salad
The seafood salad is an appetizer, but also a second dish, simple and tasty, rich in many varieties of fish, usually served cold in the summer.
Ingredients (serves 6)
• 1 kg of octopus
• 200 grams of squid
• 1/2 kg of mussels
• 1/2 kg of clams
• 500 grams of shrimp
• 3 carrots
• 3 stalks celery
• 2 lemons (juice)
• 4 cloves
• q.s. Laurel (chopped or 2 leaves)
• q.s. of salt
• q.s. of olive oil (extra virgin)
Preparation
1. To prepare the salad of the sea started to clean the octopus and proceed to his cooking. Put in a large pot of water, 1 stalk of celery, 2 nails cloves, 1 carrot and 1 teaspoon crushed bay leaf (or a fresh bay leaf). As soon as the water boils, plunge the octopus, keeping body, and head. Proceed this way again, making do with octopus 3 dives in the end the tentacles will curl.
2. Now you can soak it all in the water and let it simmer simmering. For the octopus cooking, consider that it takes 20 minutes / 500 grams of octopus. So in this case it will take about 40 minutes. To check the cooking still proceed spearing octopus with a fork, the octopus is cooked as soon as the fork tines entering the octopus’s meat without excessive force. Turn off the heat and let the octopus cool in the cooking water. When it is cold (or at least very lukewarm) cut it into chunks.
3. While cooking the octopus also proceed to the cooking of other fish. Clean the squid, boil it in plenty of water, flavored with bay leaves, cloves, celery and carrot. As soon as it is cooked, it will take about 10 minutes, drain (without throwing away the water) and cut the bag into rings and the tentacles into pieces.
4. Now clean the shrimp, remove before the heads, then remove the legs and carapace. If you like you can leave the tail attached.
5. Now seared shrimp in the water of cooking squid, it will take no more than 5 minutes. Then drain and set aside.
6. Then proceed with cleaning the clams and mussels. Put a little olive oil with a clove of garlic in a large skillet and when they are hot adding the clams, let them open a high flame. Then remove them from their shells, leaving just someone stuck to decorate the dishes.
7. Peel the carrot and cut it into sticks left and then into small pieces, cut the same way the other stalk of celery.
8. Now that all the fish are ready transfer them all together, add celery and carrots and season with a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, a pinch of salt. Drizzle with the lemon juice and stir well to flavor everything. You can rest a bit ‘your seafood salad in the refrigerator for half an hour to cool it before serving.
9. Your seafood salad is now ready to be served.
Great recipe.