Back when I was living on Long Island, there was an Italian deli in Babylon that made such a fantastic frutti di mare that it has lingered in my memory for decades. What made it so great? Seafood salad is all in the freshness of the ingredients, and the choice of seafood. I remember calamari that melted in your mouth, flakes of crab, briny, firm shrimp, and a mix of tiny clams and scallops so buttery I always saved them for the last bite.
Selecting Seafood for Frutti di Mare
Which seafood you use is up to you. Lobster would be the high end, of course, but crab, scallops, shrimp, crawfish, clams, mussels, calamari, octopus, cuttlefish — really anything you like. A mix of seafood is what is important here, not any specific ratio or variety. Bring out your best extra virgin olive oil for this salad, and if you have any fancy salt, use it here, too. A little crunchy finishing salt sprinkled over the salad right before you serve is a nice touch. You can also add a little black or red pepper if you want to jazz things up. Think of this as a main course salad on hot summer days. It is best served chilled with a loaf of good bread, along with an easy drinking white wine, rosé, or pilsner beer. Families have various traditions when it comes to the seven specific fishes, so this frutti di mare can count as one of seven dishes that contain fish, or — with its shrimp, clams, scallops, and calamari — it can count as four of the seven fishes, which works out well if your feast is for just a few people. (We know. We know. Your family might consider that cheating.)
More Feast of Seven Fishes Favorites
Baked Stuff Clams Salt Cod Stew Grilled Branzino With Rosemary Vinaigrette Pasta With Tuna and Capers Boiled Lobster
There is time to prep the vegetables while the poaching broth is steeping so you can prep them before or wait until you start cooking. This seafood salad tastes best a few hours after it’s made, but don’t make it much further ahead of time than 3 or 4 hours. If you have leftovers, store them immediately in the refrigerator in a tightly covered container for 1 to 2 days, at most. If the leftovers start to smell fishy, discard the entire salad.
4 cups water 1 cup dry white wine or chicken stock 2 teaspoons kosher salt 2 to 3 bay leaves 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 small onion, roughly chopped
For the salad:
2 celery ribs, thinly chopped 1 large yellow or orange bell pepper, diced 1 pound tomatoes, seeded and diced 1/2 cup chopped chives 1 pound small cocktail shrimp 1 pound small clams in shell 1/2 pound bay scallops 1/2 pound calamari, cut into rings 1/4 cup high-quality extra virgin olive oil, or more to taste Juice of 1 to 2 lemons Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
