Some dear friends of ours who love cooking as much as I do invited us out for a day on their boat. I couldn’t think of something better to bring than mason jars full of seafood cocktails to go with the other cocktails we would have.
Recipe Supplies:
- White Fish (1 lb… I used rockfish)
- Calamari Steak (1 good size)
- Shrimp (1 lb large)
- Crab (1 can)
- Limes & Lemon (2 lemons & 6 Limes)
- Avocado (1.5 large hass)
- Cilantro (1 bushel)
- Jalepeno (1 large)
- Garlic Cloves (5-7)
- Red Onion (1/2 onion)
- Clam Juice (8 onces)
- Mexican Hot Sauce (To taste)
- Tomato Juice (16 onces)
- Horse Radish (couple teaspoons to taste)
- EVOO
- Salt & Pepper
- Onion & Garlic Powder
- Cayenne
Do you ever just have the slightest feeling you are forgetting something when you leave the house? Well, I had that a bit this morning when I grabbed my trusty Yeti shopping bag and started on my typical 10-minute stroll to Lazy Acres. I grabbed my shopping list like usual, chit-chatted with the guys behind the meat counter since I see them way too much, and checked out at the checkout counter. Or so I thought! While making small talk at the counter, our conversation was quickly halted when I realized I had forgotten my fucking wallet.
Do you have Apple Pay???
Um… I have no idea. So after Maggie (I learned her name afterward) was done looking through my phone to see if I had Apple Pay (because I am 42 and don’t know how any of that works) realized I did not. She so sweetly bagged up all my stuff and put it in the frig in the back of the store so I could walk back home and get some money.
Fortunately, my neighbor and best buddy happened to be working. His restaurant cut my walk in half… So after borrowing his credit card and making all his regulars at the bar laugh at my dumb ass, I was back off to get my groceries. I checked out, thanked Maggie profusely for my total fuck up, and embarrassed myself one more time at Harley Grey’s by returning said borrowed credit card to Nick. Got home, put the groceries in the frig, and promptly loaded two credit cards into my Apple wallet.
Okay… Now, I am ready to start cooking.
Start by chopping all the fish and calamari into small pieces… We are going to cook these in lime and lemon juice before we combine everything together.
Once all the meat is cut, season with a little bit of salt and pepper and put into a mixing bowl. Juice enough lemon and lime to cover the fish in the bowl. You are going to put this in the frig covered while you make the rest of the recipe. Make sure to stir the fish every once in a while so that the fish cooks evenly in the citrus mix.
Deshell and devein your shrimp. Put the cleaned shrimp in a mixing bowl, coat with EVOO, and season generously with salt and pepper, onion and garlic powder, and a few dashes of cayenne. Mix the shrimp so they are coated evenly and set aside while you chop up all your veggies.
Finally, chop the cilantro, red onion, avocado, and jalapeno. Make sure to taste your pepper to see what you are dealing with (keep the seeds if you want more heat; lose them if necessary). Mince or press your garlic cloves with a press.
Now that everything is prepped and your fish is still cooking in the juice, you can cook your shrimp. You could just cook all the seafood in the lime juice, but I like the contrast of the seasoned, seared shrimp mixed with the other pieces cooked in lime.
Get a pan hot… once it is warm, add a bit more EVOO to coat the bottom. Then, cook your shrimp for about a minute on each side. I put the shrimp clockwise around the pan and then flip them in that same order so that they cook evenly. Once they are done, remove them and any remaining juice from the pan and put them in a bowl to cool.
Once the shrimp are cool enough to handle, cut them into 1/3s (you can keep them whole, but I like getting shrimp in every bite instead of a whole one every once in a while). Just my opinion.
By this time, your fish that is being cooked in the lime juice should be done. You are now going to combine everything.
Get another large mixing bowl and add the fish (scoop it out of the citrus mix and set aside), the shrimp, crab (with all the juice that is in the can with it), veggies, peppers, clam & tomato juice, garlic, etc… Basically everything but the seasoning, hot sauce, and horseradish. Mix it all together and start tasting your concoction.
Season to taste with the hot sauce, horseradish, S&P, Onion & Garlic powder, cayenne, and a couple of dashes of EVOO and the lime juice mixture. It took me a few rounds of seasoning and tasting before I got to where I was happy with the finished result. My guesstimates are above.
Then serve right away or save for a boat ride the next day! We did both.
