Ligurian seafood salad
Instructions:
- I fell for this style of salad when I was visiting
the Ligurian coast many years ago and stopped
at one osteria after another along the way to
try their versions of a seafood salad. I washed
them all down with glasses of crisp, chilled
Italian white wine and have nothing but
relaxing memories of the journey.
- marinade
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
- 1½ teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 teaspoon chopped Calabrian chile or another hot chile such as jalapeno or serrano seafood salad
- ¾ pound mussels
- ½ pound littleneck clams
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
- Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
- ¾ pound calamari, the body sliced into ¼-inch¬thick rings and the tentacles halved
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1 cup diced fennel
- cannellini salad
- 1 quart cooked cannellini beans
- 1 cup Oven-Dried Cherry Tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 3 tablespoons minced shallots
- Juice of 3 lemons
- 2 tablespoons Calabrian chile oil or other hot chile oil
- 1½ cups extra virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- to serve
- 4 slices Rick’s Basic Crostini
- 2 lemons, halved
- To prepare the marinade, in a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over low heat. Add the garlic and cook for about 4 minutes, or until the garlic begins to sizzle. Do not let it burn. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
- When the oil is cool, stir in the parsley, thyme, rosemary, and chile and set aside.
- To prepare the seafood salad, heat a large sauté pan over high heat. When the pan is hot, put the mussels and clams in the pan. Add the wine, garlic, and red pepper. Cover and steam for 5 minutes, or until the shells begin to open. Add the calamari, cover, and cook for 1 to 2 minutes longer, or until the shellfish are fully open. Remove the shellfish and the calamari from the pan and set aside.
- To prepare the cannellini salad, mix the beans, tomatoes, parsley, shallots, lemon juice, chile oil, and olive oil in a large bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside.
- Transfer the cooked seafood to a bowl and toss with the marinade and the celery and fennel. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Spoon a quarter of the cannellini salad on each of 4 serving plates. Arrange a quarter of the seafood salad on top and serve with a crostini and lemon half.