Seafood Salad Recipe

Seafood Salad Recipe, Food and Cooking

One person's trash is another's treasure - and this is especially true when making seafood salad and soups. The parts of the fish that are usually thrown away make delicious stock - the tails, backbones and head, along with prawn shells. And seafood salad and soups are perfectly suited to using cheaper cuts and varieties of fish or seafood.

The Best Seafood Salad Recipe:

One cup broccoli florets, parboiled
1/2 cup mayonnaise
Two cups black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup Italian-style salad dressing
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
Two tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped green onions
Eight ounces fusilli pasta
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
1 cup crabmeat

The noodle soup and the Italian-style soup are perfect main course dishes. I usually serve the bisque as an entree.

Another Seafood Salad Recipe:
1.5kg whole fish (such as snapper or bream), cleaned and scaled; or fish fillets plus head
3 stalks lemongrass
2 large cloves garlic
2cm piece galangal (or ginger), thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon sugar
250ml (1 cup) coconut milk
2 tablespoons fish sauce
250g rice vermicelli noodles
2 handfuls beansprouts
50g coarsely grated cucumber
75g (1 cup) shredded Chinese cabbage
Thai basil and mint, to serve
Lime wedges, to serve

Bring 1.5 litres water or fish stock to boil in a large shallow saucepan, and add fish. Return to boil and simmer very gently for about 12 minutes. Lift fish from pan, blot with a clean tea towel and reserve cooking liquid. Remove flesh from fish and discard bones. Finely slice tender end of lemongrass and put into a food processor with garlic, galangal and turmeric. Pulse and then add fish and a spoonful of cooking liquid and pulse until it forms a smooth paste. Return liquid to boil and add pureed fish mixture, sugar, coconut milk and fish sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Meanwhile cook and drain noodles. Divide noodles between 4 deep bowls and top with beansprouts, cucumber, cabbage, basil and mint. Pour over hot soup and serve accompanied with lime wedges. Serves 4

MIX & MAX
The hot, sweet, sour, salty balance in this soup calls for a sweetish riesling - something from Tasmania or New Zealand, perhaps, where aromatic fruitiness abounds.

ITALIAN-STYLE FISH Seafood Salad Recipe
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, peeled and finely sliced
1 carrot, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small fennel bulb, finely sliced lengthways
1 x 400g can crushed or chopped tomatoes
1 bay leaf
Large glass white wine
750ml fish or vegetable stock
750g fish fillets
12 large green prawns, peeled, with tails attached
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

Heat oil in a large saucepan over a medium-low heat. Add onion, carrot and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, for 7-10 minutes or until soft but not coloured. Add fennel, tomatoes, bay leaf, wine and stock and bring to boil. Simmer gently for about 30 minutes. Cut fish into pieces about 5x3cm. Add fish and prawns, bring to boil and simmer for about 5 minutes or until fish and prawns are cooked through. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve with crusty bread. Serves 4

MIX & MAX
Italian soup, Italian wine. And a red wine, I think. The fennel, garlic and tomatoes give this soup a rich, rustic wallop of flavour, so try it with a young sangiovese.

SEAFOOD BISQUE Recipe
20g butter
250g fillet salmon, skin off, cut into 2cm pieces
650g small cooked prawns (in shell), fresh or frozen
1 medium onion, peeled and roughly chopped
2 leeks, roughly chopped
1 stick celery, roughly chopped
1 medium carrot, roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
125ml white wine
80g risotto rice
2.5 litres fish or vegetable stock
100ml double cream

Heat butter in a large saucepan over a medium-low heat and fry salmon, prawns (in their shells) and vegetables for about 6-7 minutes. Add tomato paste, wine, rice and stock and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer very gently for about 35 minutes. Let it cool a little, then blend until smooth and strain through a sieve. Season with salt and black pepper. When ready to serve, add the cream and bring back to just under the boil. Serve with ciabatta. Serves 8

MIX & MAX
The flavours are classical French, so try a southern-French style rose: a pale pink wine made from grenache, perhaps.