salpicón de marisco

This is an easy traditional Spanish recipe of seafood cocktail with vegetables and salad dressing that is normally eaten as a main dish in the summer. You can also use tuna or mackerel instead of seafood.

Ingredients: (serves 4)

• 100 g green pepper

• 100 g red bell pepper

• 1 red onion

• 16 cooked shrimp

• 180 g crab sticks

• 200 g cooked octopus

• 200 g canned mussels in brine

• white wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar

• mild olive oil (0.4º) or extra virgin olive oil

• salt

1. Dice the green pepper, red bell pepper and red onion.

2. Peel the cooked shrimp and chop them into small pieces along with crab sticks and cooked octopus.

3. Drain the liquid from the canned mussels.

4. In a small bowl, whisk together salt, vinegar and olive oil to taste. (for quantities see tips below)

5. In a large bowl, combine all the vegetables and seafood, pour the dressing over the top, and gently toss with a spatula.

USEFUL TIPS

- I recommend to always whisk the dressing because the other ingredients take on the flavour much better.

- The right proportion of ingredients for a regular salad dressing is 1 part vinegar and 3 parts oil, plus salt to taste. I do this by eye, but if you're not sure, it's better to start with the minimum and then add more if needed. Minimum would be about a level teaspoon of salt, a finger's worth of vinegar and 3 fingers' worth of oil. My mother uses 'fingers' as a unit for measuring liquids and taught me how to use it: imagine laying your index finger flat on a surface. The height of the finger is the measure for '1 finger'.