The Christmas Eve ITALIAN SEAFOOD SALAD Recipe that’s amazing (Insalata Frutti Di Mare)

Today I am excited to try the perfect Christmas eve Italian Seafood Salad fit for a Feast of the Seven Fishes. 🎄🐟 This easy recipe for Insalata di Mare recipe is exactly what I was craving. It’s fresh, zesty, and could be the absolute highlight of your holiday table. This is great as an antipasto or even a light and fresh meal.

The Feast of the Seven Fishes (La Vigilia) is a beautiful Italian-American tradition, and no spread is complete without a cold, marinated seafood salad. In this video, I’ll show you how to cook, and dress your seafood perfectly so it’s tender—never rubbery!

INGREDIENTS
*Poaching Ingredients*
2 1/2 to 3 water
1 cup white wine
celery stick
5 cloves garlic
2 tsp black peppercorns
1 dried bay leaf
sprigs of thyme
sprigs of rosemary
sprigs of Italian parsley
1 large Meyer lemon
half of a small white onion
2 tsp salt

*Seafood Salad Ingredients*
2 lbs jumbo shrimp
12 oz Bay scallops
1 lb bag of seafood mix with calamari
2 to 3 sticks celery
red onion
1/2 red bell pepper
3 to 4 cloves garlic
5 oz jar Italian Castelvetrano olives
3 Meyers lemons
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp white wine vinegar
2 Tbsp of pepperoncini Brine
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
salt & pepper to taste

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How To Make Italian Antipasto Seafood Salad
Light & Fresh Meals

Today I’m making Italian seafood salad and I’m 
super excited. And as of late, this has been my for you page. Olive oil, tons of lemon juice, 
fresh parsley. So today I’m inspired and hungry. Okay, so today I’m making Italian seafood salad. 
And this is what I was able to purchase from my local grocery store. I have this is a one lb bag 
of seafood mix with octopus. This has octopus, muscle meat, calamari, and shrimp. Here I have raw 
bay scallops, and raw jumbo shrimp. And what I’m going to do is poach these. And what am I poaching 
this in? These aromatics with a piece of onion, one meer lemon that I sliced or regular 
lemon. Some people actually uh add in orange, fresh orange as well, or orange juice. You could 
do that. Here I have several cloves of garlic, like four to five. This was like two teaspoons of 
whole peppercorns, black peppercorns, a bay leaf, one celery stick that I just broke into pieces, 
some rosemary. Here I have some thyme and fresh parsley. That’s what I’m working with. Also, 
whatever’s left of this wine is going in. Okay, so here in a semi medium to large pot, I added water. 
Uh maybe like halfway. I’m going to add some salt. That’ll do. I’m going to pour that right in. 
I would say that was like a cup. It’s I think I’ve seen videos where 
they say to do half water, half wine, but that’s what I’m working with. Okay. 
Aromatics and all these things going in. Okay. Okay. So, now I’m going to bring this up 
to sort of like a gentle boil or like a gentle simmer because we are going to poach everything. 
So, this is sort of like I’ve seen videos where they put a colander inside the pot, but my 
pot’s really small. So, I’m just going to do that little steamer insert and poach everything on 
top here. While the other stuff is pressed down, I am going to poach the mix of like calamari, 
octopus, shrimp, and muscle meat. And it’s already pre-cooked, so I’m only going to poach 
it for like a minute. It’s sort of semifrozen, so maybe a minute and a half. But I’m 
going to add that right into the pot. Okay. Okay. Next, I’m going to 
poach the uh base scallops. This is going to go for about uh a minute and a 
half to 2 minutes. Okay. So, I just lift this out. Okay. Next, I’m going to poach 
the jumbo shrimp. And I’m going to have to do this in batches 
because my pot is kind of small. This is only going to take I don’t 
even think a minute. At this point, it’s starting to curl and turn opaque. You 
don’t want to overcook the shrimp. Okay. Okay. And for the rest going in. 
So, I have everything poached. Now, I’m going to slice in half each shrimp. 
I’m going to slice it right in half. I’m going to prep some of the fresh ingredients 
and other ingredients that go into the salad. Here I have some pitted Italian olives. I have several 
cloves of garlic. I’m going to just mince this finely. Slice up finely. Red onion, two celery 
sticks, and some bell pepper. I these are mini bell pepper. Just use what you’ve got. Okay, so 
I’ve drained the olives. And with the olives, you can just sort of break them apart or just rip 
them in half just like that. So for the dressing, I’m going to be using maybe like two tablespoons 
of this champagne vinegar. Actually, white wine vinegar. I believe people have called for that, 
but I’m going with what I have. I’m also going to use the juice of two to three Meyers 
lemons. You could use like a large lemon, two large lemons, that’s fine. A good olive oil. 
This is what I’ve got. Salt, pepper, and oregano. So, I’m just going to mix everything in this 
large uh ceramic baking dish. And I’m going in with all of my seafood here. My poached 
shrimp and calamari, all that good stuff. And let’s just mix that up a little bit. I measured 
out a/2 cup of lemon juice, fresh lemon juice, and 1/2 cup of olive oil that’s going on. And 
I actually have seen people just eyeball this. And if you want to create an emulsion or 
like a dressing first and add it, I mean, you can, but I always see everyone just adding 
it as they go. Here I have the dried oregano, and I’m just sort of going to break it 
apart in my hand. Minced garlic going in. Champagne vinegar. Just a pinch 
of salt. Cracked black pepper. Okay, here I have all of 
the chopped onion, celery, bell pepper, and the olives. And just add 
that. Okay, so now we’re going to mix. And I’m so excited. This looks so good. I tasted it and I think it needs a little 
more champagne vinegar. So now I get why people just eyeball over the salad like 
they just So I’m going to go with maybe another tablespoon. By the way, champagne 
vinegar is a lot less punchier. It’s milder as opposed to white wine vinegar. So 
maybe that’s why white wine vinegar is is an ingredient that goes with this. Also 
going to add another glug of olive oil, a little bit of salt, a little more oregano. 
So I think I’m going to add the juice of one more lemon, Meyers lemon. Here I have 
fresh parsley and a little more salt and pepper to taste. And I think I think I 
got it. Okay. And here’s another optional ingredient. I like crushed red pepper 
flakes. You could use it as a garnish, but I’m going to put it in the uh seafood 
salad because I like it. But I don’t know. I don’t think that’s traditional. I don’t 
know. Comment down below if you know. I’m going to add a couple of 
tablespoons of the pepperoni uh brining liquid. There we go. Some fresh 
parsley, Italian parsley. And give it a mix. Okay. And here’s something else with those 
squeezed meer lemons. Because they’re so tender and the the flesh uh easily peels away, the pulp 
peels away from like the skin and the pith, I’m going to chop it up and add it as well. So, here 
is my amazing, delicious Italian seafood salad. I can’t tell you how excited I am to dig into 
this, but I saw videos where you sort of want to let this marinate. I would say overnight is what I 
saw, like 12 hours. I mean, if you make it in the morning, serve it for dinner, it’ll probably work. 
But I’m going to cover this in cling film and just let it marinate in the fridge. My family likes 
crusty bread, so that’s what I’m going to make. Okay. Oh my gosh, it smells so good. So, after 
purchasing all the ingredients for this, I understand why this is something seasonal 
or very special because it is pricey. So, this tastes amazing and I’m 
probably going to make it again next year because it’s that good. 
See you in the next video. Bye.