We men pride ourselves of eating manly things. If you have ever refrained from ordering a salad in the company of judging eyes, then this one is for you.
I was at the local fishmonger's the past weekend and chanced upon a tray of Italian seafood salad. I didn't so much chance upon it as decided to give it some attention - it's always been there, next to the tray of fish-cakes. Think of all the delicious, alien-looking sea critters marinaded together and you'll begin to get the picture. More a summer dish, but the sunny autumn Saturday felt pretty right and I got myself a little box-full to go. The rocket leaves are my addition (and that bottle of wine is empty).
I was at the local fishmonger's the past weekend and chanced upon a tray of Italian seafood salad. I didn't so much chance upon it as decided to give it some attention - it's always been there, next to the tray of fish-cakes. Think of all the delicious, alien-looking sea critters marinaded together and you'll begin to get the picture. More a summer dish, but the sunny autumn Saturday felt pretty right and I got myself a little box-full to go. The rocket leaves are my addition (and that bottle of wine is empty).
Baby squid, octopus, mussels, shrimp and cockles attended this salad party. But you are only limited by what got away, or what you can afford. Chunks of lobster, crab meat or scallops would be novel additions. I say why leave out snails and conchs - whack them in too if you can find some. You need:
- an assortment of cooked seafood. Whoever had made this salad had probably cooked them all together. The mussels and cockles were falling apart and the squid was a little rubbery. The octopus though, was more tender than you would imagine. Nice chunky pieces too! If I were to cook this at home I probably would cook all the meats separately, to their individual cooking times.
For the basic marinade (I can't give you exact quantities, roughly in descending order.)
- extra virgin olive oil
- balsamic vinegar
- chopped garlic
- salt and pepper
- lemon juice
This salad also had
- chopped olives (a few too many)
- red peppers
- chopped shallots
- chives
- parsley
- a bit of white wine
- anything really
Once you have the marinade ready, then it's just a case of putting in the meat and cooling in the fridge for a couple of hours. I thought it went pretty well with salad leaves. I used the marinade to dress the rocket, but I could have eaten it just as it was, with some bread for dunking.
There was some great fish on the slab that day - there always is.
No comments:
Post a Comment