Seafood Italian Salad with Olives
By: The Duo Dishes
Published: Monday, April 16, 2012 - 10:34am

Ingredients




¾ lb baby fingerling potatoes, diced
4 garlic cloves, whole and peeled
2 bay leafs
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 ½ lbs seafood medley: sliced calamari, cooked clams and mussels, shells removed
6 oz black olives, such as Kalamata, pitted and halved
½ cup cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons Italian parsley leaves, rough chopped
1 ½ tablespoon capers
1-2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste

Preparation

1 1. In a medium pot, boil potatoes with the garlic and bay leaves. Strain out potatoes, reserving the water, leaves, and garlic. Set aside in a large mixing bowl. 2 2. Return potato water to a boil, adding in red pepper. When water reaches a boil, add seafood medley, immediately turning the heat off on the stove. Let sit for 4 minutes. Strain water, discarding bay leaves and garlic, and add to potatoes. 3 3. Mix in all other ingredients, gently tossing them together until evenly incorporated. Serve immediately.

About

And that brings us to this recipe! Here’s a dish that showcases both olives and extra virgin olive oil together. Surprisingly, the inspiration behind this dish came from an episode of No Reservations. Anthony Bourdain was being versed in the Italian tradition of “The Vigil,” a traditional Christmas Eve feast of several seafood dishes consumed in one evening. One of the dishes he tasted was an octopus salad filled with warm potatoes, olives, capers, herbs, and olive oil. I was immediately intrigued and knew that I would be recreating a version of that dish in the near future. As fate would have it, I recently spied a prepared package of cooked clams, mussels, and calamari in the fresh seafood section of my local grocery store, and thus, this recipe was born.