Squid and mussel salad with chips
Description
Minimum effort — excellent result. Preparing any dish usually starts with a trip to the store. The main ingredients in our dish are lettuce and seafood. You should choose fresh, crisp lettuce; unfortunately, the packaging date doesn't always honestly reflect freshness in the case of lettuce. The denser the iceberg lettuce head, the juicier and crunchier it will be. For our salad, you can also use other types of lettuce or Chinese cabbage—both turn out delicious as well. We're using iceberg because, in my opinion, it provides more freshness and a delicate sweetness that highlights the flavor of the seafood. Seafood should be chosen carefully, as marine creatures are quite capricious and, if improperly handled, will inevitably disappoint and ruin all your efforts. First of all, pay attention to appearance and production date. Nowadays, some manufacturers pack their products in transparent containers, allowing us to see the product clearly. For the salad, you can choose mussels and squid either in oil or in brine. Mozzarella cheese in brine should contain no milk fat substitutes; nowadays, producers are required to indicate this on packaging, and stores—on price tags! Olive oil should be first cold-pressed and unrefined. You can use any chips you like, but personally, I prefer salted chips. Our salad requires no artificial additives—we're making a healthy dish! Now we proceed to the actual preparation. You can serve it immediately.
Instructions
- 1
Step 1
Prepare all the ingredients for the salad.
- 2
Step 2
First, we need to cut the cherry tomatoes into 4 pieces and the mozzarella cheese pieces in half.
- 3
Step 3
We remove the outer leaves from the lettuce and cut it crosswise into 1 cm wide strips. At the same time, we leave one large, nice leaf for garnish.
- 4
Step 4
In our case, the seafood is already cooked, which significantly saves us time, so we just need to open it. Since we are using squid and mussels in oil, try to let the oil drain off when placing them.
- 5
Step 5
We will assemble the salad in individual portions. Place a beautiful lettuce leaf on one side of the plate and, as shown in the photo, start layering the remaining ingredients on top. Create a small cushion of lettuce strips, then carefully arrange the cherry tomatoes, cheese, and our seafood. I personally do not cut the seafood, as I believe tearing it results in better taste, a more attractive look, and easier garnishing. Remember to lightly season each layer with salt and pepper (but don't overdo it)!
- 6
Step 6
After laying out 3 layers, we need to drizzle our salad with olive oil and sprinkle it with sesame seeds. Be careful not to overdo it with the oil. This isn't porridge, so it's easy to ruin the dish with too much oil. Since our seafood was already in oil, we only need about a tablespoon. Place the chips neatly along the free edge of the plate so they won't get soggy from the other ingredients, keeping their crunch and adding an attractive touch to the presentation of our finished dish.
- 7
Step 7
For lovers of spicy and piquant dishes, you can add chili pepper directly to the salad or place it separately on the clean edge of the plate next to the chips, allowing people to adjust the flavor to their taste. Chili pairs exceptionally well with all the ingredients in our salad. This salad is rich in vitamins and minerals, and contains enough protein to be both diet-friendly and nutritious. Enjoy it yourself and treat your loved ones!