Seafood Salad

tarragon, lemon zest, garlic, parsley, lemon juice, olive oil........optional chili flakes or cayene.

Mix and marinate seafood (what is a fishball?), top salad. Add blanched haricot verte aka green beans, or sugar snap peas.....charred peeled red peppers are a nice addition too.

Dillweed, tarragon, parsley, loads of fresh garlic, parmesan, olive oil, chipotle...makes a super seafood addition too.

Fishballs/????

SWame idea as Mushroom girl but no fishballs. I would marinate 3=4 hours in a store bought Italian dressing clear or if you want a creamy one add some diced red, yellow green pepper, parsley and serve on raddichiop or red tip and frisee.

This recipe calls just for calamari. But I've made it with mixed seafood as well, including shrimp, clams & mussels (without shells), crayfish, and scallops (bay scallops work better than sea scallops for this dish). I've also substituted Sherry vinegar for the red wine vinegar, which, IMO, provides a more rounded flavor.

I also think the calamari/pea ratio can be improved by upping the squid to 1 1/4 or even 1 1/2 pounds.

Original recipe came for Gerald Hirigoyehns great book Pintxos.

Black Eyed Pea Salad with Calamari

1 lb calamari tubes
2 cups cooked black eyed peas
1 celery stalk, finely diced
1 tomato, cored & finely diced
3 tbls minced shallot
1/4 cup fresh tarragon leaves
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley leaves
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
Salt & pepper to taste.

Cut calamari into 1/2 inch rings.

Blanch calamari in rapidly boiling water for exactly 30 seconds. Immediately plunge them into an ice water bath. Drain.

In a large bowl combine the calamari, peas, celery, tomato, shallot, tarragon and parsley. In a small owl whisk together the vinegar, olive oil, salt & pepper. Pour vinaigrette over the calamari & peas and toss until well combined. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Let salad sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes or up to 4 hours before serving to allow flavors to blend.

For a mixed seafood salad I'd consider 1/2 lb calamari, 1/2 lb salad shrimp (or large shrimp cut up), and 1/2 lb mussels as a nice mixture.

Ahh, the Chinese-fish balls. They're basically a rubbery-textured forcemeat meatball made of fish. It's a Chinese texture thing. Well, other asian cultures have fish balls too, they're all slightly similar.