GoProvidence.com and the Providence Journal bring you Small Bites: Easy-to-Digest Recipes. Brian from Bacaro Restaurant shares with us their dish: Insalata di Frutti Di Mare, or, "Salad of the Fruit of the Sea." This delicious dish is perfect for the holiday season and the Feast of the Seven Fishes. Follow the video and recipe below:
Insalata di Frutti di Mare
- 1 pound octopus
- 1 pound squid, tubes and tentacles
- 1 pound shrimp
- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
- 1 cup virgin olive oil, plus drizzle to serve
- Kosher salt, to taste
- ½ cup shallots, diced fine
- 5 stalks celery, sliced very thin
- 1 cup olives, Taggiasca preferred
- 1 cup red bell pepper, roughly chopped, roasted and skinned
- 1 cup fingerling potatoes, cut into quarters and boiled in salted water
- 1 cup flat leaf parsley leaves, chopped
*Poach each of the three kinds of seafood. Directions follow.
Once cool, cut the octopus into small, bite-sized pieces. Remove the beak located beneath the head at the center of the tentacles and discard. Peel and de-vein the shrimp and cut into thirds. Cut the squid tubes in to half-inch rings. Slice up the tentacles. Set aside.
To prepare the salad: place the red wine vinegar and olive oil together with a pinch of kosher salt into a stainless steel or plastic bowl large enough to hold all of the ingredients. Whisk to create the vinaigrette. Add the celery, olives red pepper, potatoes and parsley the bowl and toss. Add the seafood.
Refrigerate for at least an hour, and up to one day.
Serve with a drizzle of virgin olive oil. The best choice would be a fruity extra virgin olive oil.
Serves four.
Poached Octopus, Shrimp and Squid
- 3 quarts water
- 3 bay leafs
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 tablespoon pink peppercorns, crushed with the side of the knife
- 3 cups white wine
- Salt, to taste
- 2 lemons, sliced in half
- 1 Pound baby octopus
- 1 Pound shell-on shrimp
- 1 Pound squid tubes and tentacles, separated
Place water, bay leaves, garlic, peppercorns, white wine and salt into a non-reactive pan with lid. Squeeze the lemon halves into the water and then add the crushed lemon rinds to the water. Bring to a boil.
Cook each variety of seafood separately and in one pound batches. You do not want to lose the boil when the seafood is added.
For octopus, boil 12 minutes or until the octopus pulls apart easily with tongs. Remove with strainer and place onto a sheet pan to cool.
Using the same boiling water, place the shell-on shrimp into the water and boil for 2 minutes. Remove to a sheet pan to cool.
Place squid tubes in same boiling liquid for 2 minutes. Remove to a sheet pan to cool.
Place squid tentacles in boiling water for 2 ½ minutes. Remove to a sheet pan to cool.