This is really an outstanding dish. Fresh, aromatic, vibrant and absolutely delicious. Foodsaver Stores seafood mix is perfect! Mussel meat, shrimp and calamari precooked and ready for you to use. I like to top up the seafood with some meaty Tiger prawns and mussels in shells for presentation purposes mainly.
Everything is dressed in a parsley-coriander-mint pesto, served on a bed of fresh salad greens. You can add any other seafood you crave, like scallops or crab. The pesto will work wonderfully with any of these. You can prepare the seafood and dressing in advance and let it marinate in the fridge for up to 24 hours. It will taste even better.
For the salad
800 grams Tiger premium quality seafood mix
300 grams precooked and peeled Tiger prawns
300 grams Foodsaver mussels in shell
200 grams fresh green salad leaves like spinach, rocket, lettuce etc*
2 Tbs pine nuts, lightly toasted*
For the dressing
30 gr fresh coriander leaves*
15 gr fresh mint leaves*
20 gr fresh parsley leaves*
1 tsp Ardo chopped garlic
2 Tbs Ardo chopped spring onion
70 ml lemon juice*
100 ml Minerva extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbs Foodsaver Mayonnaise
Maldon salt and pepper
*all ingredients from Foodsaver stores except those marked with an asterisk.
Method:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the seafood mix, prawns and mussels. Leave to blanch for a couple of minutes. Everything is precooked so you don’t need to boil the seafood. Drain seafood very well and place in a bowl to cool.
Make the dressing. Put coriander, mint, parsley, spring onions, garlic, lemon juice and salt and pepper in a bowl of a food processor or mini chopper fitted with a metal blade. Pulse to chop everything finely. Season with salt and pepper. Be generous with the pepper! Add the olive oil and pulse until everything is very finely chopped and sauce is emulsified. Finally add the mayonnaise and pulse a few times to blend.
Make sure seafood is very well drained. Separate the mussels in shells from the remaining seafood. Mix most of the dressing with the seafood.
What I like to do with the mussels is use a small spoon and put the dressing in each shell. Then I lay the mussels on top of the salad to decorate.
You can keep the seafood in its dressing covered in the fridge for up to 24 hours before assembling the salad.
To serve, lay salad greens on a shallow platter. Spoon the seafood on top. Lay the mussels and then sprinkle with the pine nuts. Serve at once.
Galatia Pamborides
www.cuisinovia.com
