Having gotten some darned good advice here from you all, I thought I'd
share a little accompanyment that I make when company is here and I need
to serve something to start the meal off with. It DOES involve a tiny
bit of grilling, so I guess it's fair to post. Grin FWIW, it's also a
darned good meal in itself for a cold night. It's not a soup or a
gumbo, but something in between. If anyone has a name for this kind of
dish, I'd appreciate your suggestions. I serve it as a first course,
normally, followed by grilled pork chops or ribs.

serves about 8 people. Recipe may be halved with no problem.

Two boxes Zataran's Red Beans and Rice (use butter instead of olive oil)
hydrate with fish stock
8 oz bay scallops
8 oz salmon fillet, lightly grilled skin side only to loosen skin, skin
and dark fat removed, diced up 3/8" pieces
12 oz cocktail-size shrimp, peeled and deveined
8 oz baby octopus or baby squid- squid rings may be substituted
2 king crab leg meat, reserve largest 2 whole pieces, coarse dice of
balance. Assumes king crab is precooked.
8 sea scallops

Boil shrimp, salmon skin and crab shells 10 minutes, strain, use water
to hydrate Zataran's. Fish stock may be frozen.

Cook Zataran's as recommended, using 1/2 stick butter in stock, 30
minutes. This is slightly overcooked, which is desirable in this dish.
10-12 minutes before done, add both types of scallops, salmon, shrimp,
octopus and crab. Remove sea scallops from mixture. Serve in shallow
soup bowls so seafood pieces are more visible. Split reserved pieces of
king crab and serve as garnish on top, along with the sea scallops.

Something that's really cool about this recipe is that it goes so well
with pork dishes such as ribs or grilled chops. It works with chicken
as well, but falls down a tad with beef, IMHO. The best part is that
you can do the seafood prep days ahead of time and freeze it up in a vac
bag, keeping the big pieces of the King Crab separated. You can also
freeze the fish stock or just use tap water as a substitute. From start
to serving, the dish is ready in about 45 minutes that way, and you have
plenty of time to do some grilling or other things, since it doesn't
need tending.


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---Nonnymus---
In the periodic table, as in politics,
the unstable elements tend to hang out on
the far left, with some to the right as well.