Italian Seafood Salad
This Italian Seafood Salad, or Insalata di Mare, was inspired by Philip Nicolas on the Cook’s Cooks Community Forum on Facebook. It’s great if you have fresh seafood, but it’s nearly as good made with frozen because of the other strong flavors. Makes about 8 main course servings.
Ingredients
1 lb raw shrimp with shells on, fresh or frozen
1 lb scallops, fresh or frozen
1 lb squid, fresh or frozen, cleaned and cut into sections and tentacles
Dry white wine, for cooking
1 c chopped celery, including some of the leafy tops
1/2 c extra virgin olive oil
5 t lemon juice
3 large cloves garlic, finely chopped.
2 T Italian parsley, finely chopped
1 t dried oregano
1/2 t t crushed red pepper
Salt and pepper to taste
Method: prepare a cooking stock with 3 parts water to 1 part wine. Bring to a boil and cook the seafood one type at a time, starting with the shrimp. When they are just cooked, lift the pieces out with a strainer and plunge them into ice water. Peel the shrimp and return the shells to the cooking liquid. Cook the scallops, then the squid, chilling with ice water each time. Reserve the cooking liquid. Drain seafood and toss with other ingredients; add a bit of cooking liquid if it seems dry. Chill for least 2 hours (preferably overnight) then taste and add salt and pepper as needed before serving.
