Spanish Seafood Salad - Salpicón de Mariscos
Spanish Seafood Salad, this easy salpicón de mariscos (seafood salad) is made with a combination of fresh seafood, bell peppers, cucumber, slivers of onion and a lovely lime vinaigrette, but could also be served with mayonnaise or cocktail sauce. You will find this served as a tapa or a light meal during the hot Spanish summer.
Salpicón is a term used to refer to a combination of ingredients mixed in a sort of salad. It literally means “hodgepodge” or “medley”.
INGREDIENTS
1 white onion preferably Spanish
½ English cucumber peeled
½ red bell pepper seeded
½ green bell pepper seeded
12 oz filet of halibut or any firm, white fish
10 oz shrimp raw, peeled and deveined
10 oz squid (octopus or lobster or scallops) raw
12 oz mussels raw
2 Tablespoons lime juice fresh
1 Tablespoons of grapefruit and orange juice in equal parts
3 Tablespoons vegetable oil or light olive oil
2 Tablespoons cilantro (Coriander) finely chopped
1 tsp Sea salt
1/8 teaspoon Black pepper freshly ground
Spanish Seafood Salad
METHOD
Much of the magic of salpicón depends on chopping the ingredients in a variety of sizes. Vegetables are finely chopped but the seafood should be cut into pieces that are bite-sized but still large enough that you can identify the shrimp, fish, clams etc. This adds interest and texture to the dish.
Clean and rinse the seafood. Remove any visible bones from the fish, trimming the "beards" off the mussels and discarding any shellfish that has not opened.
Peel and slice the onion thinly into slivers. Divide in half.
Place one half of the sliced onions into a bowl of ice water. Reserve the remainder to use when poaching the batches of seafood.
Place two cups of water in a saucepan and heat until boiling. Add one third of the reserved sliced onions and 1/8 teaspoon salt to the water. Add the fish filet, reduce heat and poach for 3-5 minutes until cooked. Once the fish is cooked, remove it from the water with a slotted spoon and place on a separate dish to cool.
Drain the water (or reserve for stock) and replace it with fresh water. Add salt and one third of the sliced onions and poach the squid, octopus, scallops or lobster (or combination of seafood you're using) for 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon, drain and cool the seafood at room temperature.
Drain the water (or reserve for stock) and replace it with fresh water. Add salt and the final third of the reserved sliced onions, cover and poach the mussels (clams or preferred shellfish) for 5 minutes or until opened. Discard any that don't open. Remove the mussel meat from the shells. Cool at room temperature.
Peel the cucumber, seed and dice into small pieces.
Seed and dice the red and green peppers into small pieces.
Whisk the freshly-squeezed lime juice, and mixture of orange juice and grapefruit juice and vegetable oil with remaining salt in a large bowl.
Or use a dressing of white vinegar and olive oil,1 part of vinegar to 2 parts of oil you could also whisk a teaspoon of Spanish paprika into the vinaigrette.
When at room temperature chop the cooked fish and seafood into medium-sized pieces. They should be in bite-sized pieces but still recognizable. You can leave the squid rings whole if they're not too large.
Add the seafood to the bowl along with the reserved slivered onions (drained from ice water) with your preferred dressing.
Add chopped cilantro and salt and pepper. Toss lightly.
Cover and place in refrigerator to chill for at least an hour.
Remove from the refrigerator. Adjust seasoning to taste.
Serve chilled in individual tapas dishes, with seafood forks and slices of fresh baguette on the side.
TOP TIP: Cook the seafood one day in advance and allow it to chill (covered) in the refrigerator until you’re ready to prepare the vegetables and dressing. Combine the seafood, vegetables and dressing, cover and return to the fridge to chill for an extra hour.
