cold food for hot days … Mexican Seafood Cocktail

This weather. Ugh. It stifles my soul as well as my appetite. It’s over 100°F in Oregon and in Chicago, it’s been heavily raining with that god awful humidity that goes with it for a week now. We’re all drooping. Nothing sounds good. I want cold food that someone else makes because I can’t get up from the couch and that strategically placed fan. And yet … shrimp cocktail sounded good. Not the Costco tray that’s been sitting there god knows how long. No … homemade. That would be easy, right? Make a two-ingredient cocktail sauce and poach some shrimp? No big thing.

Famous last words. I went to buy the shrimp and noticed the seafood counter had some lovely bay scallops and gorgeous cleaned squid too. Then I remembered those crazy delicious seafood cocktails I’ve enjoyed at so many Mexican beachside restaurants and used to make back home for a spell. It had been a while and that sounded SO GOOD and it really is just a zhuzhed up shrimp cocktail so same-same, right? And just like that, my simple recipe became a whole other thing.

These tomato-y sweet spicy types of cocktails are often just shrimp – Coctel de Camarones – but depending on where you are along the coast, you’ll often see other types of shellfish or chunks of fish in the mix. They’re usually served with a sleeve of saltines or a bowl of tortilla chips to dip and scoop and pile on. Back home, my favorite combination is shrimp, scallops and squid but really, it’s usually just whatever looks good, or what I have in the freezer that drives my decisions. 

The key here, and this is where it gets a bit persnickety, is to cook the seafood separately and if I have shrimp shells, I like to make a quick shrimp stock first. I’ve noticed it’s becoming harder and harder to find shell on shrimp these days. So annoying. The shrimp I bought this morning only had tails, grrrrrrrr, so I pulled them off and made a quick stock with them. If you don’t have shells, that’s ok, just add salt to the water and move on. Regardless, the poaching step is the same for all the shellfish – bring the stock/salted water to a boil, turn off the heat, add the shellfish, give a stir, let sit for a few minutes, then into an ice bath. Note: if using squid, it really doesn’t take more than a quick dip in that hot water. Squid, like octopus, is one of those things that needs to be cooked very briefly or for a very very long time. There is no in-between if you don’t want to eat rubber bands.

For the sauce part, I like a sweet-spicy combo so I use tomato juice – V8 actually – and a bit of ketchup. Too much and it’s too sweet for my tastes. A good dose of hot sauce and then crunchy things – red onion and cucumber though you could throw in a bit of celery too. I add diced avocado because when is that not a good idea? It’s important to keep in mind that this is a meal not a drink so it’s on the chunky side with just enough sauce to coat the shellfish; not too sloppy, not too juicy. Mix it all up and you have a delightful snack or light meal. Shake up a margarita, make a michelada or pop a cold beer and you are all set.

STRESS THERAPY BAKING FACTOR: PRETTY LOW STRESS. Nobody has the time nor the energy for something super involved right now. There may be a few steps that you may – or may not – decide to take but overall, it’s a pretty easy, low key kind of recipe. Perfect for the upcoming holiday weekend that is destined to be a scorcher. This is also when you dust off those sundae glasses you got as a wedding present years ago. While you could use pretty much any kind of serving vessel, glass is best to show off all the ingredients and it’s just perfect in an old-fashioned sundae glass. I’m actually shocked I don’t own those. Shocked, I say.

make this for July 4^th! Big American Flag Cake

twelve years ago: Cajun Ginger Cookies, 

eleven years ago: Rhubarb Custard Pie, Strawberry Buttermilk Ice Cream

ten years ago: Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies, Classic Foccacia, Banana Tarte Tatin, Late Spring Pea Soup, Rhubarb Syrup – Hipster Cocktails, Puff Pastry Asparagus Spears,  Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble Pie; Lard Crust,Strawberry Shortcake, Sweet & Spicy Beer Mustard

nine years ago: Banana Fudge Layer Cake,  Pear Frangipane Tarts, Fresh Ricotta, Ricotta Cheesecake, Farro Tabbouleh, Strawberry Hibiscus Popsicles  

eight years ago: Chocolate Bourbon Lard Cake, Roasted Asparagus w/Stilton Sauce, Pickled Garlic, Morel Hunting, Frybread for Navajo Tacos, Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Vanilla Cardamom Roasted Rhubarb, Mexican Chocolate Pudding Pops,  Lime Angelfood Cake, Roasted Strawberry Sorbet, Greek Meatballs, Passionfruit Chiffon Cake, BBQ Baked Beans

seven years ago: Guinness Crème Anglaise

six years ago: Parmesan Pea Dip, Pickled Green Strawberries, Mango Lassi Freezer Pops, Eton Mess, Onion Rye Berry Bread  

five years ago: Smoky Baba Ghanoush, Pete’s Special – Teriyaki Chicken & Vegetable Rice Bowl, Summer Fruit Ice Pops, Apricot Date Bars, Lemon Ricotta Doughnuts for National Doughnut Day, Vietnamese Flank Steak with Peanut Soba Noodles, Date Shake Popsicles, Easy Home-Cured Bacon, Oven Method, Radish Top Pesto with Sauteed Radishes, Julia’s Braised Cucumbers, Sedano e Pomodori (Braised Celery and Tomato), Shaved Asparagus Salad

four years ago: Cold Cucumber Buttermilk Soup, Green Garlic Soup with Poached Eggs, Cold Sesame Noodles, Cream Soda Sherbet, Michelada Style Clams

three years ago: Lemon Elderflower Quatre Quarts (French Pound Cake), The Perfect Light Crispy Waffle, Peruvian Roast Chicken with Spicy Green Sauce, Chicken Wing Friday … Sticky Northern Exposure Wings, Lemon Sour Cream Pie, Greek Salad Piadini Sandwiches

two years ago: Strawberry Mascarpone Galette

last year: Chorizo & Cornbread Strada (Savory Bread Pudding)

MEXICAN SEAFOOD COCKTAIL – loosely adapted from this recipe

serves 4 as an appetizer or part of a lighter meal.

I like a mix of shellfish, but you could go with just one type if you like. Because of the different cooking times, it is important to cook each separately but since each only take a few minutes – or seconds in the case of squid – it moves quickly. I also very much prefer to make a quick shrimp stock with the shells but am finding that shell on shrimp are becoming harder to find. If that’s the case, just add the salt and go forward or use the tails as those are usually left on peeled shrimp. If you opt for squid, try to find it already cleaned to save some work but if you must do it yourself, clean the squid and inspect it for featherbones, remove the beaks and ink sacs. Slice into ¼” rings and cut the tentacles in half if overly large. For the hot sauce, Valentina, Cholula or Tapitio work perfectly but use what you have, however, if it’s a particularly spicy brand, go easy at first. 

For the shellfish:

3 ½ cups water

1 Tablespoon kosher salt

Shrimp shells, if you have them

1 ¼ pounds shellfish

• large shrimp (26-30 per pound), peeled (shells/tails reserved) and deveined
• bay scallops
• squid/calamari, cleaned (see note above) sliced into ¼” rings, larger tentacles cut into bite sized pieces.

Ice bath

For the cocktail:

1 ¼ cup V8 or tomato juice, chilled

¼ cup ketchup

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

3 Tablespoons lime juice (about 2 limes), plus lime wedges for serving

2 teaspoons hot sauce, plus extra for serving

½ cup English or Persian cucumber, cut into ½” dice

1 cup finely chopped red onion

1 avocado, halved, pitted, and cut into ½” dice

¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

For serving:

Saltines or tortilla chips

Lime wedges 

Hot sauce 

1. for the shellfish: if you have shrimp shells, make a quick shrimp stock by bringing the water and salt to a boil.
2. Add the shrimp shells (or tails), reduce to a very low boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Strain out and discard the shells and return the liquid to the pot. 
4. Bring the poaching liquid back to a boil (if you don’t have shrimp shells, bring the water and salt to a boil and proceed).
5. Prepare an ice bath and set aside then cook the shellfish separately:
   • Shrimp: bring the poaching liquid to a boil then turn off heat. Add the shrimp, give a stir and let sit off heat for 5 minutes. Remove the shrimp with a slotted spoon and plunge immediately into an ice bath to cool completely.
   • Bay scallops: bring the poaching liquid to a boil then turn off heat. Add the scallops, give a stir and let sit off heat for 5 minutes. Remove the scallops with a slotted spoon and plunge immediately into an ice bath to cool completely.
   • Squid/Calamari: this is a quick one. Bring the poaching liquid to a boil then turn off heat. Add the squid, give a stir and let cook off heat for 10 seconds. Remove the squid with a slotted spoon and plunge immediately into an ice bath to cool completely.
6. Remove the shellfish from the ice bath, pat dry then cut into bite size pieces – the shrimp into 3-4 pieces, the scallops in half if large and any large squid pieces into smaller bits if needed. 
7. For the cocktail: combine V8 or tomato juice, ketchup, lime juice, hot sauce, salt and pepper in medium bowl. Taste and adjust for seasoning if needed.
8. Add cucumber, red onion, and cooked shellfish and stir until evenly coated. 
9. Gently fold in the avocado and cilantro. 
10. Divide the mix between individual bowls or glasses and serve immediately with saltines, lime wedges, and extra hot sauce.