My herby, tangy, and refreshing Chilled Seafood Salad is the perfect dish for a light summer meal.
I don’t know about you, but once June rolls around, all I can think about is having an icy glass of lemonade, reading lots of books instead of working, and wishing I lived by the beach instead of in the mountains.
And this year, after my adventures in Charleston where I ate ALL THE SEAFOOD, I just wasn’t ready to let go of that shellfish state of mind.
However…I live almost 2 hours from the nearest beach.
Although I manage to get down the shore once a year, fresh seafood is a luxury I don’t get very often.
Thankfully, my Chilled Seafood Salad doesn’t need fresh seafood.
It just needs FROZEN seafood.
While so much amazing Southern food is mentioned in Where the Crawdads Sing, seafood — particularly, mussels — plays a huge part in the story. Main character Kya survives in the North Carolina swamp by digging up and selling local mussels each morning.
This book-inspired recipe is an ode to those little mollusks that basically saved Kya’s life, as well as to some other seafood that’s found in the Carolina marsh, like shrimp and scallops.
Unlike poor Kya, I didn’t have to dig up my own food for this dish; I just had to go to Whole Foods.
I found this mix in the frozen section and used it as the base for my Chilled Seafood Salad. It came with pre-shelled mussels, shrimp, scallops, and calamari rings.
(Ugh! It also came with the calamari tentacles. I cannot stand those. I kept them in anyway. For you weird people that don’t mind swallowing mini suction cups.)
Since I used the pre-made frozen mix, the prep for Chilled Seafood Salad was super easy: I just poured the thawed seafood into some boiling water. Minutes later, the seafood was cooked.
While the seafood was thawing and the water was boiling, I prepped my other salad ingredents.
Some chopped celery and red onion for both color and crunch went into the bowl, and an assortment of dried pantry spices made up a homemade seasoning mix that went into seafood salad dressing.
When everything was ready, I tossed it all together and let it marinate overnight.
Each bite of mussel, calarmi, shrimp, and scallop bursts with flavor, from the oregano and basil in the seasoning mix, to the citrusy tang of the vinegar and lemon in the dressing, to the sharpness of the chopped onion.
Even though mussels are supposed to be the star of the dish, my favorite part of the Chilled Seafood Salad is the calamari rings. I just love those slightly chewy bites against the crunch of the celery.
Obviously, you want to serve Chilled Seafood Salad when it’s cold. This is the perfect dish to haul out of your fridge on a hot summer day.
This salad is perfect as an appetizer or side dish for a dinner at home, but it also works really well as a main course if you serve it with a little crusty bread or some greens on the side.
Bring this to your neighbor’s BBQ or your coworker’s potluck, but make sure you KEEP. IT. COLD.
No one wants a lukewarm Chilled Seafood Salad. Or, a bout of food poisoning.
Yeah, I went there. Ya gotta when we’re talking about seafood in the summer.
On that note, enjoy!
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Chilled Seafood Salad
Ingredients
SALAD INGREDIENTS
- 1/2 cup diced red onion
- 1 cup diced celery
- 2-2.5 lbs frozen mixed seafood
- 3 tbsp homemade seafood seasoning mix (see below)
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp water
- juice of one lemon
SEAFOOD SEASONING MIX
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp ground thyme
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 2 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp dried parsley flakes
- 1/2 tbsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
PREP INSTRUCTIONS
- Defrost seafood mix according to package instructions, either overnight or right before cooking.**
- Chop onion and celery, then set aside in a large mixing bowl.
- In a small bowl, mix together the onion powder, thyme, basil, oregano, parsley, salt, and black pepper until thoroughly combined. Set aside.
COOKING INSTRUCTIONS
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
- While the water comes to a boil, make your seafood salad dressing: measure out 3 tbsp of the homemade seasoning mix you’ve prepped. Cover the remaining amount of seasoning mix and set aside; you may want to use it later.
- Add the 3 tbsp seasoning mix to a mason jar, then add the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, water, and lemon juice. Screw lid onto mason jar and shake vigorgously until you have a thick, pourable salad dressing.
- Now, your water is probably boiling, so it’s time to carefully add the defrosted seafood to the pot. Boil seafood 3-5 minutes, or until cooked through.
- Drain seafood, then add to the large mixing bowl containing the chopped onion and celery.
- Pour the salad dressing over the seafood and veggies, then mix together with a spatula until all ingredients are covered with the dressing.
- Let cool slightly, then tightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours, or up to overnight.
- Once seafood salad is completely chilled, taste to see if you want to add any more of the reserved seasoning mix. If you do, you can simply sprinkle it onto the cold salad, or you can whisk a little olive oil into the remaining mix and pou rover the salad, mixing until combined.
- Chilled Seafood Salad is best served cold.
