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The Best Mexican Seafood Salad Recipe
This simple yet very tasty Mexican seafood salad makes a wonderful appetizer or a light lunch. The octopus needs a long cooking time in gently simmering water to become really tender. It is a good idea to cook the seafood one day ahead and then chill it overnight in the refrigerator. That way you save time making the salad on the day and the seafood will be really cold. Toss it with the other ingredients two hours before serving it so the flavors can blend.
You can use the squid, shrimp, octopus, and scallops or alter the amounts of each one if you want. These four seafood flavors go nicely together in a cold seafood salad. Seafood, contrary to popular belief, is not difficult to cook, and a seafood salad is a great example of an elegant appetizer recipe, which is easy to make yet, looks very impressive when you serve it.
Seafood is very popular in coastal Mexican regions and it is often combined with a very light dressing, such as the garlic, lemon, and fresh herbs in the following seafood salad recipe, so the flavor of the fish really shines through.
Cold Seafood Salad with Garlic and Lemon
Ingredients -
6 cups water
½ lb cleaned octopus
½ lb bay scallops
½ lb peeled, de-veined shrimp
½ lb cleaned squid
3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 minced garlic cloves
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
1 chopped lettuce
2 tomatoes, cut into wedges
½ sliced cucumber
Preparation:
Bring the water and salt to a boil in a big pan over a moderate to high heat, and then add the squid.
Cook it for 3 minutes or until tender, then plunge it into ice water and drain it.
Cut the squid into 1 inch pieces.
Add the shrimp to the boiling water and cook it until it turns pink.
Plunge it into the ice water and drain it.
Put a vegetable steamer in the pan and turn the heat down to moderately low.
Steam the scallops over simmering water for about 5 minutes or until they are cooked.
Plunge them into the ice water and drain. Combine the scallops, shrimp, and squid and cover the bowl.
Refrigerate them.
Take the steamer out of the pan and add the octopus to the water.
Cover and simmer it for about 2 hours until it is tender.
You might need to add more water because the octopus should stay covered the whole time it is cooking.
Plunge the cooked octopus into ice water and drain it.
Rub off the skin and discard it.
Chop the octopus into 1 inch pieces. Add it to the chilled seafood.
Add the lemon juice, chives, garlic, and olive oil and toss to combine.
Chill the seafood salad for 2 hours.
Arrange the lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumber on a serving platter and arrange the seafood salad on top.
(Serves 8)
Photo Description:
If you are looking for an elegant dish which can be made ahead, what about making a seafood salad recipe? If you like Mexican flavors, you will love the combination of seafood in this cold seafood salad. The dressing is made with olive oil, lemon juice and garlic, as well as fresh herbs. This is a very simple salad but a mouthwatering one. Serve this cold Mexican salad as an appetizer or for lunch. If you are serving it for lunch, you might like to serve some warm bread on the side and some garlic mayonnaise or garlic-infused oil to dip it into.
