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Seafood Sundae

Coppa di Gelato Guarnita di Frutta di Mare

Mary Ann Esposito

You can have a lot of fun making this seafood sundae; I like to combine large sea scallops, shrimp, squid and lump crabmeat. The best thing is that the dish can be make ahead of time;this is a great starter for a special occasion or holiday dinner party. One word of caution: cook each type of seafood separately to insure that each is cooked correctly without becoming rubbery. Added bonus: save the cooking water because it makes a great fish stock for other recipes.Cappe sante meaning holy clock, this mollusk meat is known as noce; scallops are so named because of a legend in which a nobleman’s horse suddenly leaps into the sea and emerges carrying the body of St James covered in scallop shells.

Serves 8

Ingredients

1 lemon cut into 1/4-inch slices plus the juice of 2 largelemons
1 pound large sea scallops cut in half widthwise
1 1/2 pounds large shrimp (24 to 28)
1 pound cleaned squid (fresh or frozen),cut into 1/4-inchthick rings
1/2 pound lump crab meat
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
One 12 ounce jar prepared seafood cocktail sauce
1 large blood orange cut into 8 wedges (or large navelorange)
1/2 cup minced fennel leaves

Directions

Fill a medium size sauce pan with water; add the lemon slices, a pinch of salt, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer, add the scallops and gently cook them for about 3 minutes, or just until they look opague. Remove the scallops with a slotted spoon to a platter, keeping them in a pile. Set aside.

Add the shrimp to the saucepan and cook them just until the shells turn pink; remove the shrimp with a slotted spoon. Cool, peel and devein the shrimp. Place them on the platter with the scallops, keeping them in a separate pile.

Add the squid rings to the sauce pan and simmer them about 20 minutes or until they are tender. Cooking them too fast over high heat will make them tough. Remove the squid rings with a slotted spoon and add them to the platter in a separate pile with the scallops and shrimp.

Pour the olive oil into a 9 x 12 inch glass baking dish. Stir in the lemon juice, coarse salt, and celery salt. Mix well. Add the scallops, shrimp, squid,and crab meat each separately to the olive oil mixture; stir to combine each seafood well and keep them separated in the dish. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 3 hours or overnight.

When ready to serve, have 8 martini or small ice cream sundae dishes ready. Wet the rims of each dish and dip them in coarse colored salt.

Place about a teaspoon of the cocktail sauce in the bottom of each dish. Divide and add the squid rings to each dish. Add another teaspoon of cocktail sauce. Add two scallops to each dish, and top with another teaspoon of cocktail sauce. Divide the crabmeat between the dishes, add another teaspoon of cocktail sauce. Add three shrimp to each dish, top with another teaspoon of cocktail sauce.

Sprinkle the fennel leaves over the top of each dish.

Make a slit with a small knife in each orange wedge and anchor it over the rim of each dish and serve.

Tip:Reduce the cooking water used to cook the seafood to half its volume, cool, strain and refrigerate or freeze. Use when fish stock is called for in a recipe.

This recipe is featured on show 1805, Calamari - Squid.

item recipe is featured in Episode 1805 of Season 18.

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