Frutti di Mare is a classic Italian mixed seafood salad recipe with calamari, shrimp, clams and scallops. It takes you to the Mediterranean coast.
Frutti di mare, the Italian mixed seafood salad you see at deli counters across the country, can range from appalling to sublime.
When I lived on Long Island, there was an Italian deli in Babylon that made frutti di mare so amazing it stuck in my memory for decades.
Seafood salad is distinguished by the freshness of the ingredients and the variety of seafood. I remember calamari melting in your mouth, crab flakes, salty firm shrimp, and a mix of tiny clams and scallops so buttery I always saved them for the last bite.
Choosing seafood for Frutti di Mare
Which seafood you use is up to you. Lobster would be the high end, of course, but crab, scallops, shrimp, crayfish, clams, mussels, calamari, squid, octopus — really anything you fancy. A mix of seafood is important here, not a specific ratio or variety.
Bring out your best extra virgin olive oil for this salad, and if you’re craving salt, use it here too. A little crunchy finishing salt sprinkled over the salad just before serving is a nice touch. You can also add a little black or red pepper if you want to spice things up.
Consider this a main course salad on hot summer days. It’s best served chilled with a good loaf of bread, along with an easy-drinking white, rosé or pilsner.
Frutti di Mare on Christmas Eve
Some Italian American Catholic families (and other families who have adopted this tradition) add frutti di mare to their celebration of the Christmas Eve feast of the seven fishes.
Families have different traditions when it comes to the seven specific fish, so this frutti di mare can count as one of seven dishes that contain fish, or – with its prawns, mussels, scallops and calamari – count as four of the seven Fish, which works well if your party is for just a few people. (We know. We know. Your family might see this as cheating.)
More Feast of the Seven Fish favorites
- Baked things mussels
- Cod stew
- Grilled branzino with rosemary vinaigrette
- Pasta with tuna and capers
- Boiled lobster
From the editors of Simply Recipes
Frutti di Mare Seafood Salad
Be sure to follow the steps in the correct order so all of the seafood is cooked properly and the broth turns out nice and flavorful.
There is time to prep the veggies while the venison broth steeps, so you can prep them ahead of time or wait to start cooking.
This seafood salad is best a few hours after making it, but don’t make it much more than 3 or 4 hours in advance. If you have leftovers, keep them immediately in the refrigerator in a tightly closed container for a maximum of 1 to 2 days. If the leftovers start smelling fishy, discard the entire salad.
ingredients
For the wild broth:
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4 cups water
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1 Cup dry white wine or chicken broth
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2 teaspoon kosher salt
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2 to 3 bay leaves
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1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
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1 small Onionroughly chopped
For the salad:
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2 celery ribsthinly chopped
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1 big yellow or orange peppers, diced
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1 lb Tomatoes, cored and diced
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1/2 Cup chopped chives
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1 lb small cocktail shrimp
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1 lb small mussels in the shell
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1/2 lb bay mussels
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1/2 lb calamaricut into rings
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1/4 Cup good quality Extra virgin olive oilor more to taste
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Juice from 1 to 2 Lemons
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Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper, taste
method
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Prepare the poacher broth:
Combine all the ingredients for the wild broth in a medium saucepan, cover and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat to allow the flavors to infuse while you chop the veggies.
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Prepare the salad vegetables:
While the venison broth is steeping, prepare the veggies if you haven’t already. Dice the yellow peppers, deseed and dice the tomatoes and very thinly slice the celery ribs. Chop the chives. Squeeze the lemons and remove all the pits. Place the diced peppers, tomatoes and celery in a very large bowl. Most cocktail shrimp come pre-cleaned and cooked so you can add them to the bowl as well.
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Poach the mussels:
Bring the poacher broth back to a boil and add all the clams. Cook 3 to 4 minutes, or until all the clams open. Once you see each clam open, fish them out and set them aside. Remove the meat and add to the bowl with the vegetables.
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Poach Scallops:
Turn off the heat and place the scallops in the wild water. Cover the pot and let it stand for 3 to 4 minutes. Fish out the scallops and add them to the bowl.
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Poach the calamari rings:
Bring the broth to a boil again. Add the squid rings and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute, then pour the contents of the saucepan into a colander set over a bowl. You can save the broth or throw it away. Take out all the squid rings and add them to the bowl.
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Serve the salad:
Finally add the olive oil and some salt and half the lemon juice. Mix well and taste. Add more olive oil, lemon, and salt until you get the flavor you want: the salad should be shiny with oil, salty, and tart with lemon. Finally, mix in the chives and chill. This salad tastes better a few hours after making it.
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 318 | calories |
| 11g | Fat |
| 28g | carbohydrates |
| 25g | protein |
