Italian Seafood Salad
Not only will this salad impress any seafood lover you serve it to, but it will give you a restaurant-quality Italian dining experience. The seafood is tender and practically melts in your mouth 🤤, while the sweetness of the tangerine and tanginess of the lemon takes this salad to a whole other level.
Servings: 6
Ingredients
The Octopus
- 1.5 lbs octopus (700 grams) cleaned
- 1 celery rib quartered
- 1 lemon halved
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon peppercorns
- 2 teaspoons salt to taste
- 1 wine cork (optional) tenderizes the octopus
Shrimp and Squid
- 4 squid tubes (400 grams)
- 8 tiger shrimp peeled and deveined
- 1 lemon halved
- 1 tangerine halved
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 pinch salt
The Dressing
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 3 tangerines juiced
- 1 lemon juiced
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 2 teaspoons honey Dijon mustard
- ¼ cup parsley chopped
- 1 pinch salt to taste
Instructions
The Octopus
- NOTE: octopus is incredibly easy to prepare but if you feel intimidated, feel free to leave it out and use any other seafood of choice. You can poach shrimp, squid, and scallops in batches for 2 minutes each, and use that for your salad instead. I buy my octopus already cleaned out from the store so make sure to tell your fish monger or seafood department to clean it for you if needed.
- Rinse the octopus with cold water. To a big pot, add the water (3 litres). Add in the celery, lemon, bay leaf, peppercorns, a wine cork and salt. Let it come to a boil and dip the tentacles in and out of the water 3 times so they curl.
- NOTE: The initial hot water dip causes the tentacles to curl and the skin to tighten so that it is less likely to split during cooking. We add a wine cork inside the water as it's known to make the octopus more tender.
- Now, place the whole octopus inside and let it simmer on medium-low heat for 40-45 minutes or until tender. I like to cover it with a lid making sure to leave an opening.
- You should be able to insert a knife easily into the thickest part of the tentacle.
- When the octopus is done, take it out with tongs, let it cool, split it in half and cut it into equal size pieces. Set aside as you work on the shrimp and squid.
Shrimp and Squid
- NOTE: I buy whole squid with the tentacles attached, but you can buy the squid tube only if you wish. If the squid has a gladius (or pen) which looks like a long piece of plastic in it, please discard.
- I wash and dry the squid, remove the tentacles that are inside and set them aside as we will cook them as well. I cut each squid into 1/4-1/2 inch circles and place it in the bowl with the tentacles.
- Make sure the shrimp has thawed and it's peeled and deveined. You can buy it deveined already and just peel it or buy it fully peeled and deveined as well.
- In a pot, add water, add the halved lemon, tangerine, bay leaves and salt.
- Let it come to a boil, and reduce the heat a bit. Add in the squid rings and tentacles and poach (boil) for 2 minutes only. Take them out and set aside.
- Now take the shrimp and poach it in that same pot for 2 minutes as well. Take it out and cut into pieces or leave it whole while you prepare the dressing.
The Dressing
- In a mason jar, measuring cup, or bowl add all of the ingredients for the dressing. I add the olive oil, tangerine and lemon juice, minced garlic, honey Dijon mustard, salt and parsley. Whisk well.
Assemble
- Add the seafood into a big bowl, pour the dressing on top and mix it all together. Feel free to taste and adjust for salt and acidity. If you want EXTRA dressing, you can easily double the dressing recipe and use as much as you like. Serve it at room temp and enjoy!
- You can prepare this salad 12 hours in advance and refrigerate it to let all the flavors meld together.
Video
Nutrition
Calories: 282kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 29g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 150mg | Sodium: 1485mg | Potassium: 687mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 937IU | Vitamin C: 54mg | Calcium: 147mg | Iron: 7mg
