Seafood Salad
(Serves 8)
The Italian American Feast of the 7 Fishes is my favorite night of the year. I love all the food, in particular this delicious seafood salad. For our family’s recipe we use lobster, shrimp, polpo (octopus), crabmeat, and calamari.
Quick tip with this…you can do this the day before you are planning to eat it. I find that the fish tastes even more delicious after it is marinating in the lemon vinaigrette longer.
Ingredients
1 lb. (about 18) Jumbo Shrimp, Deveined
1 lb. Calamari- I use just the tubes (the body)
1 lb. Canned Colossal Crab Meat (Be sure to use high quality brand), Rinse and drain well
1 lb. Polpo (Octopus), I buy just the tentacles
3 (8 OZ) Lobster Tails, Using a scissor, cut threw the top of the body of the lobster before boiling
5 Celery Stalks (About 6 oz), Diced
3/4 Cup Fresh Lemon Juice
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Black Pepper
3 tsp. Fresh Parsley, Chopped
¾ Cup High Quality Extra VIrgin Olive Oil
8 cups Red Wine Vinegar to boil the Polpo
Method
In a small sauce pot, heat up the red wine vinegar. Once the vinegar comes to a slight boil, dip the tentacles 3 times (this tenderizes the polpo before boiling), and then boil them for 25 Minutes. Once they are done, rinse and remove the pink part (the suckers) and cut into small pieces.
In three other pots boil water. Boil the shrimp, calamari and the lobster separately. The lobster will cook in about 8 to 9 minutes. The shrimp in about 7 minutes and the calamari in about 20 minutes. For the calamari, boil the whole tubes. Drain all the seafood once done. Remove the lobster from the shell and cut into small cubes. Slice the calamari into thin rings. Take the tails of the shrimp off and cut them into small pieces. Cool the seafood.
Put all the seafood in a bowl and add the celery, salt, pepper, lemon juice, olive oil, and parsley.
Mix well and serve.