Seafood Dinner Party (Pro)
Fail-safe easy recipes for a wonderful seafood dinner party along with some tips and tricks to make the party one to remember.
Apéritif
Blinis with Smoked Sturgeon & Caviar
Serves 4
Preferred Seafood: Smoked Sturgeon, Salmon Caviar, Black Caviar
Alternative Saltwater Option: None really
Alternative Freshwater Option: None really
Sustainable Option: Find the correct sustainable brand
Garnish
Chopped Parsley
Ingredients
450 g butter plus 2 tablespoons melted butter
150 g cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
250 ml milk
75 g flour, sifted
8 tablespoons soured cream
8 tablespoons salmon caviar
8 teaspoons black caviar
24 thin slices smoked sturgeon
Method
First clarify the 450 g butter. Melt it over a very low heat and leave in a warm place for is minutes. Skim the foam from the top, spoon off the clear, yellow, clarified butter and discard the milky liquid in the bottom. Set aside. Now mix the cornmeal and salt. Stir in 475 ml boiling water. Cover and leave to stand for 10 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then add the milk, stirring slowly. Mix in the flour and the 2 tablespoons melted butter and beat until the mixture is smooth. The batter should be the consistency of double cream. If necessary, thin it with a little more milk. Brush a crĂŞpe pan with warm clarified butter and heat. Pour in about 3 tablespoons batter and tilt the pan to spread the batter evenly. Cook for about 2-3 minutes or until the underside is browned. Turn and cook the other side for 1-2 minutes. Remove from the pan and keep warm. Make 7 more blinis in the same way. To serve, place each blini on a hot plate and pour 3 tablespoons clarified butter over the top. Put 1 tablespoon soured cream in the centre of each, then 1 tablespoon salmon caviar in the centre of that. Place 3 slices smoked sturgeon around each blini. Serve immediately.
Soup
Fish Mulligatawny Soup
Serves 4
Preferred Seafood: Haddock
Alternative Saltwater Option: Sea Bass, Cod, Halibut
Alternative Freshwater Option: Perch
Sustainable Option: Perch, Sea Bass
Garnish
4 limes, cut into wedges and mango chutney.
Ingredients
1.2 kg white filleted fish
5 tsp coriander seeds
5 tsp cumin seeds
3 tbsp whole black peppercorns
1½ tsp curry powder
1½ tsp turmeric
30 g/6 cloves garlic, peeled
20 g/4cm ginger, roughly chopped
Small handful each of fresh coriander, curry and mint leaves
For The Soup—
25 g butter
3 Indian bay leaves
6 cloves
10 g cinnamon stick, broken into 2 pieces
100 g onion, chopped
50 g tomatoes, chopped
50 g carrots, thinly sliced
50 g celery, thinly sliced
50 g leeks, thinly sliced
1 tbsp plain flour
2 tsp turmeric
500 ml chicken stock
400 ml coconut milk
2 tsp salt
60–240 g Boiled basmati rice (allow 40 g boiled rice per person)
Method
First, let me tell you how to make the paste for the soup. Put coriander, cumin, and peppercorns in a grinder and blend with the other paste ingredients in a small food processor. If it's too dry, add a little water. Now, let's make the soup. Melt butter in a heavy-based saucepan or karahi over medium heat. Add bay leaves, cloves, and cinnamon, and fry for 1 minute until they smell good. Then, add onions and tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes. Add carrots, celery, and leeksand cook for another 5 minutes. Mix in the spice paste and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add chicken thigh and fry for 2 minutes to coat it in the spices. Mix in flour and turmeric. Pour in chicken stock, bring it to a simmer, cover it and cook it over low heat for 20 minutes. At the end, stir in coconut milk and salt. If you prefer, remove cinnamon stick, bay leaves, and cloves before serving. To serve, put about 40 g of cooked rice into each bowl and ladle over the soup. Add a good squeeze of lime juice and serve with sweet chutney on the side.
Salad
Warm Seafood Salad
Serves 4
Preferred Seafood: Mussels, Scallops, Oysters, Langoustines
Alternative Saltwater Option: Prawns
Alternative Freshwater Option: Crayfish
Sustainable Option: Crawfish, Scallops, Freshwater Mussels
Garnish
Chopped parsley and chervil
Ingredients
40 mussels removed from shells (retain the liquid)
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper
60 ml double cream
8 scallops, simmered for 2 or 3 minutes in the strained mussel juice
8 oysters, simmered with the scallops for the last few minutes
20 freshly cooked langoustines
200 g cooked, cold carrots, cut into thin julienne strips
200 g cooked, cold baby turnips, cut into thin julienne strips
400 g whole, fine green beans, cooked and cold
1 tablespoon chopped parsley and chervil, mixed
Method
Use a bit of the mussel cooking liquid, strain it, and mix it with lemon juice, salt, pepper, and cream. Then, add the prawns, oysters, scallops, and mussels to the liquid and simmer for a couple of minutes. Arrange some of the veggies on white plates, place the warm fish on top, and sprinkle some chopped parsley and chervil.
Fish First Course
Fish Pie
Serves 4
Preferred Seafood: Haddock
Alternative Saltwater Option: Cod, Pollock, Halibut
Alternative Freshwater Option: Trout, Perch, Catfish
Sustainable Option: Pollock, Saithe
Garnish
Chopped parsley
Ingredients
1 kg haddock fillet
600 g potatoes, peeled
120 g butter
150 g carrots, peeled and cut into thin rounds
150 g onion, peeled and chopped
240 g white of leek, sliced into thin rounds
Pinch of sugar
240 g button mushrooms, thinly sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A little lemon juice
60 g fresh chopped parsley
8 tablespoons double cream
480 g puff pastry
2 egg
Method
First, boil some sliced potatoes in salted water for 3 minutes. Then, cut the fish into small strips and melt butter in a saucepan to cook the carrots, onion, leek, and mushrooms for 5 and 3 minutes. Season the mixture and put it in a pie dish with the drained potatoes, fish, lemon juice, parsley, and cream. Season it again and preheat the oven to 220°C. Roll out the pastry and line the dish, brush it with beaten egg and cut a small hole in the centre. Then, bake it in the oven for 20 minutes. Served the pie with a simple green salad on the side.
Shellfish First Course
Prawns in Cream
Serves 4
Preferred Seafood: Langoustine
Alternative Saltwater Option: Crayfish, Scallops
Alternative Freshwater Option: Crayfish
Sustainable Option: Crawfish, Crayfish, Whelks
Garnish
Chopped parsley
Ingredients
1 kg Langoustines
For The Stock—
30 g celery
30 g leek
30 g fennel
30 g mushrooms
½ bayleaf
Sprig of chervil
6 white peppercorns (lightly crushed)
600 ml water
For The Cream—
3 eggs
ÂĽ teaspoon salt
60 ml shellfish reduction
300 ml double cream
8 asparagus spears, washed and peeled
240 g spinach, well washed
To Finish The Sauce—
120 ml double cream
30 g butter
Method
Start by preheating the oven to 180°C. After peeling the langoustine, use the shells and heads to create a shellfish reduction. Simultaneously, while the vegetable stock simmers, prepare langoustine creams in buttered savarin moulds. Placing the moulds in a tray, add water and bring it to a boil on the stove, covering it and baking for 20 minutes. While the stock simmers, poach asparagus and cut it into thirds, blanch spinach, and reserve some for a green- coloured sauce. After straining the stock and reducing it., braise the langoustine in the reduced stock. Adding cream, further reduce the sauce and whisk in butter. For serving, place spinach on warmed plates, langoustine cream on top, pour the sauce around, and arrange the asparagus.
Fish Main Course
Hake Tortellini
Serves 4
Preferred Seafood: Hake
Alternative Saltwater Option: Haddock, Pollock, Halibut
Alternative Freshwater Option: Trout, Perch
Sustainable Option: Trout, Whelks
Garnish
Nothing
Ingredients
For The Pasta—
300 g flour
½ teaspoon salt
3 eggs
2 tablespoons olive oil
For The Filling—
120 g cooked fish, free from skin and bone
2 tablespoons soured cream
1 teaspoon chopped basil
1 clove of garlic
Salt and black pepper
For The Sauce—
60 g sliced mushrooms
30 g butter
300 ml fish stock
120 ml soured cream
130 g butter
Method
When making pasta, start by mixing flour, salt, eggs, and olive oil to form a stiff dough. Then, let it rest covered in clingfilm for an hour. Meanwhile, mix together the filling ingredients, including the fish fillet. After an hour, divide the dough into two balls and roll it out thinly on a floured surface. Next, cut 24 disks out of the dough and add a teaspoon of filling to the centre of each one. Then, fold the disks over to form a crescent shape and cook the tortellini in boiling salted water for about 5 minutes. To make the sauce, sauté mushrooms in butter, add fish stock, reduce the liquid, add cream and more butter, and warm up the mushrooms and tortellini in the sauce before serving.
Shellfish Main Course
Lobster Masala
Serves 4
Preferred Seafood: Lobster
Alternative Saltwater Option: Brown Crab, Shrimp, Scallops, Clams, Squid, Langoustines
Alternative Freshwater Option: Crawfish (Crayfish), Freshwater Prawns, Catfish
Sustainable Option: Crawfish, Freshwater Shrimp, Whelks
Garnish
Sliced cucumber, dusted with salt and sprinkled with lime juice
Ingredients
2 Ă— 750 g cooked lobsters
For the coconut spice blend—
100 g fresh or frozen coconut, grated or blitzed in a food processor
4 dried Kashmiri chillies, half with seeds removed
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
½ tsp cumin seeds
Seeds of 2 green cardamom pods
1.5 cm piece of cinnamon stick
For the masala—
1 tbsp vegetable oil
35 g onion, finely chopped
10 g/2 cloves garlic, finely crushed
10 g/2cm ginger, finely grated
ÂĽ tsp turmeric
Small handful of curry leaves
100–120 ml water
200 ml coconut milk
½ tsp white wine vinegar
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp roughly chopped kokum, soaked in 30 ml boiling water for 10 minutes, or 50 ml Tamarind liquid
Method
To make this dish, start by making the coconut spice blend. Toast coconut in a frying pan until golden and dry-fry a mix of chillies, coriander, fenugreek, cumin, cardamom, and cinnamon until toasted. Then, grind them to a fine powder using a spice grinder. For the masala, heat oil in a saucepan and fry onions, garlic, ginger, turmeric, and curry leaves. After that, add the coconut spice blend, water, coconut milk, vinegar, salt, and kokum and cook for 5-10 minutes until it's thickened. To prepare the lobsters, cut them in half lengthways and remove the meat from the bodies and claws. Then, place the shells on a roasting tray in the oven to warm through. Add the lobster meat to the masala and stir gently for 2–3 minutes over a low heat. Finally, fill the shells with the warm meat coated withthe masala.
Very Special Main Course (Optional)
Lobster in Chocolate Sauce
Serves 4
Preferred Seafood: Lobster
Alternative Saltwater Option: Brown Crab, Shrimp, Scallops, Clams, Squid, Langoustines
Alternative Freshwater Option: Crawfish (Crayfish), Freshwater Prawns, Catfish
Sustainable Option: Crawfish, Freshwater Shrimp, Whelks
Garnish
Nothing
Ingredients
Dash of Olive oil
50g Butter
1 small onion. finely chopped
2 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 large lobsters, cut in half while still alive
6 red chillies. finely chopped
5 cm/2 inch piece of root ginger, peeled and cut into very fine slivers
Dash of Dry sherry
1 cup fresh orange juice
225 g bitter chocolate, grated into a powder on the fine holes of your cheese grater
Sea salt and black pepper
For The Saffron Rice—
2 cups rice
Dash of Olive oil
Generous pinch of saffron
2 tbsp toasted pine nuts
2 tbsp toasted split almonds
2 tbsp toasted raisins
Method
For the rice, start by washing it in cold water, then fry it in olive oil for a few minutes until each grain is coated. Next, add enough water to cover the rice, add some salt and saffron, and cover the pan with a lid. Cook it for about 15 minutes until the rice is tender, then stir in some toasted nuts and raisins. For the lobster, heat some olive oil and butter in a large frying pan, and then fry some chopped onion and garlic until they are soft. After that, place the lobsters flesh-side down in the pan and sauté them until they turn slightly golden, then turn them over and fry them for a few more minutes until the shells turn pink. Season them with salt, pepper, and some chillies and ginger, and add a dash of sherry. Let it heat for a second or two, flame it, and let the flames die down before adding more sherry and cooking for another 5 minutes or so until the shells are completely pink. Transfer the lobsters to a serving dish and keep them warm. Over high heat, add orange juice to the pan and let it bubble until it reduces by at least a third. Then, over low heat, whisk in some chocolate and a knob of butter until you have a smooth, spicy sauce. Finally, pour the sauce over the lobster and serve it with the rice. If you want the rice to look fancy, you can shape it into little domes or pyramids with a coffee cup or timbale mold and then turn it out onto the serving plates.