This is really an outstanding dish. Fresh, aromatic, vibrant and absolutely delicious. Mussel meat, shrimp and calamari precooked and ready for you to use. I like to top up the seafood with some meaty Tiger prawns and mussels in shells for presentation purposes mainly.
Everything is dressed in a parsley-coriander-mint pesto, served on a bed of fresh salad greens. You can add any other seafood you crave, like scallops or crab. The pesto will work wonderfully with any of these. You can prepare the seafood and dressing in advance and let it marinate in the fridge for up to 24 hours. It will taste even better.
Seafood Salad with Coriander-Mint Pesto
This is really an outstanding dish. Fresh, aromatic, vibrant and absolutely delicious. Mussel meat, shrimp and calamari precooked and ready for you to use. I like to top up the seafood with some meaty prawns and mussels in shells for presentation purposes mainly.
Ingredients
For the salad
- 800 grams Premium quality seafood mix
- 300 grams precooked and peeled prawns
- 300 grams mussels in shell
- 200 grams fresh green salad leaves like spinach rocket, lettuce etc
- 2 Tbsp pine nuts lightly toasted
For the dressing
- 30 grams fresh coriander leaves
- 15 grams fresh mint leaves
- 20 grams fresh parsley leaves
- 1 tsp chopped garlic
- 2 Tbsp chopped spring onion
- 70 ml lemon juice
- 100 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Tbsp Mayonnaise
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the seafood mix, prawns and mussels. Leave to blanch for a couple of minutes. Everything is precooked so you don’t need to boil the seafood. Drain seafood very well and place in a bowl to cool.
- Make the dressing. Put coriander, mint, parsley, spring onions, garlic, lemon juice and salt and pepper in a bowl of a food processor or mini chopper fitted with a metal blade. Pulse to chop everything finely. Season with salt and pepper. Be generous with the pepper! Add the olive oil and pulse until everything is very finely chopped and sauce is emulsified. Finally add the mayonnaise and pulse a few times to blend.
- Make sure seafood is very well drained. Separate the mussels in shells from the remaining seafood. Mix most of the dressing with the seafood.
- What I like to do with the mussels is use a small spoon and put the dressing in each shell. Then I lay the mussels on top of the salad to decorate.
- You can keep the seafood in its dressing covered in the fridge for up to 24 hours before assembling the salad.
- To serve, lay salad greens on a shallow platter. Spoon the seafood on top. Lay the mussels and then sprinkle with the pine nuts. Serve at once.
