What is a sea cocktail? Many have heard this phrase, but not everyone knows what it means. So it is called a mixture of seafood. This is mainly a mix of squid, mussels, octopus and shrimp. Most often, it is sold in large supermarkets in frozen form. Different dishes are made from this mixture. Salads and cold snacks can be prepared. Skilled housewives will cook an excellent soup out of it. And from this mix you will get amazingly delicious second courses. How to make a frozen sea cocktail? Recipes for the preparation of various dishes from it we will describe below. After all, dishes from such products are tasty, healthy and easy to digest. But, as always in cooking, in order for you to get a masterpiece, and not something solid and tender, or, conversely, similar to boiled cabbage, you need to follow certain rules. If you stick to them, you will see that there is nothing complicated in cooking seafood.
How to choose a sea cocktail in a supermarket
When purchasing any product, you should first pay attention to its packaging. There, as a rule, it is indicated who the manufacturer is, who the supplier is, as well as instructions on where to sign in detail how and how much to prepare a frozen sea cocktail. Packaging is transparent, so you can see the composition of the products. Or they have photos of the ingredients that are inside - octopuses, squids and crab sticks. Frozen seafood comes in two types: chilled to minus raw temperatures and already boiled. Culinary experts advise you to buy the latter. The fact is that foods frozen in raw materials can lose about half the weight when cooking. So you just throw away the extra money for ice. Also pay attention to whether the seafood sticks together in the bag. If this happened, then they were stored incorrectly. Or they were already thawed. It is better not to buy such a cocktail. If you buy seafood by weight, carefully check for damage, dark spots and other signs of poor storage. This is very important so that the dishes from them come out delicious, and nothing would threaten your health.
Preparation
Before we learn how to prepare a frozen seafood cocktail with seafood, we will determine what exactly we will do with it. We have already decided for ourselves that we will buy welded and peeled products. That is, those who are already fully prepared for cooking. But before cooking, they still need to be thawed. This is best done in the refrigerator. Two to three hours is usually enough. If you do not have much time, put the cocktail in a container and thaw at room temperature. And in the event that you pulled them out too early, it is better to put them in slightly salted water. But in no case do not defrost them again. After this, the seafood must be washed. If it so happens that you bought a cocktail, frozen raw, boil its ingredients. But be aware that this is not worth doing for too long. The base cooking time for any seafood is no more than five minutes.
How to cook a frozen sea cocktail: recipes and their variety
Chefs use the ingredients of this mixture in different ways: as part of dishes or as their basis. From sea cocktails make appetizers and salads, soups and the second. They are baked, fried in a pan, stewed. Seafood can turn into a real full-fledged dish. First of all, they are part of pilaf, pasta, pizza. Soup from such a cocktail is prepared easily and quickly. It contains few calories, but it is very useful. Moreover, the first seafood dish is prepared with a variety of fresh herbs. Snacks from them are also very nutritious and healthy. They contain vitamins A, D and E. Seafood can be cold and hot. Any food from them turns out to be refined in taste and provides a feeling of satiety for the whole day due to the high protein content. At the same time, it is absolutely dietary. Seafood is suitable for vegetarians and fasting people. Seafood will perfectly replace meat.
Julienne
Many culinary experts believe that the combination of seafood with mushrooms is ideal. Therefore, we recommend you a julienne recipe. How to make a frozen sea cocktail for this hot snack? To do this, it is better to take a chilled raw product. In any case, we defrost it and cook for about five minutes. Water should be salted, with the addition of bay leaf and garlic sauce. Then seafood will get a special aroma and taste. Now that they are cooked, you need to make the sauce. Take 200-300 grams of champignons. They need to be cleaned, cut into pieces and fry in oil with finely chopped onion. Add the boiled seafood and put it out a little together. Then pour a tablespoon of flour into the pan, fry again until the mixture thickens. Pour half a glass of cream, boil over low heat. Salt, pepper, make sure that it does not burn. When the sauce acquires the consistency of thick sour cream, put it in molds for julienne. Sprinkle with hard cheese. Bake in a hot (180 degrees) oven for about 10 minutes. Now decorate with herbs. Can be served.
Soup
How to prepare a frozen sea cocktail for the first course? First, pick up the right vegetables. While the cocktail is thawing, we will clean the celery root, one carrot, onion, leek stem. All this is finely chopped. Leek - the white part - cut into rings. Fry in butter. Then we heat the water to a boiling state, add salt. We put in the fried vegetables and cook for 20 minutes. Then we filter the soup and bring it to a boil again. Add half a glass of dry white wine. Now put there washed and scalded seafood. Large parts can be cut. After 15 minutes, the soup will be ready. In some cases, chefs advise not to cook the soup in the soup, but toss the vegetable seasoning there. Add vegetables five minutes before seafood is cooked. When serving, sprinkle the soup with herbs. It is best to choose celery.
Pilaf
This second course with the participation of seafood is made somewhat differently than by the basic rules. You cook the long-grain rice until cooked, so that it remains crumbly. While the rice "reaches" in the cauldron, we proceed to season it. How to cook a frozen sea cocktail for pilaf? First, fry in oil one or two onions, the same amount of grated carrots and finely chopped bell pepper. Add spices to taste. It can be salt, a couple of crushed cloves of garlic, as well as ground black pepper. When all products are fried, add thawed and washed sea mix. Stew with vegetables for about ten minutes. Then mix the dressing with rice. Before you add a sea cocktail to vegetables, you can put a little tomato paste in a pan and warm it up a little.
Paste
Some people wrinkle their nose when they hear about pasta. And in vain! This seafood dish is so exquisite that it can be served even in a restaurant. But it is done quite easily at home. Take some good Italian spaghetti made from durum wheat. Boil them, following the instructions on the packaging. Shake several times after draining. And what will serve us as minced meat? Frozen Sea Shake! How to cook its ingredients in a pan? They must first be thawed, rinsed and fried in olive oil. Then mix the resulting sauce with spaghetti. Sprinkle with grated hard cheese and spicy herbs before serving. This dish is not only delicious, but also low in calories.
Pizza
A seafood mix can serve as the basis for this Italian dish. Relatives or guests will appreciate your culinary savvy! And you’ll have enough time to cook such a meal. Indeed, in the presence of ready-made cakes it will take you no more than twenty minutes. Lubricate the base of the pizza with tomato paste, mayonnaise or other sauce as you like. How to cook a frozen sea cocktail in this case? We just bake food. Of course, you first defrost them. Then lay out evenly on the pizza cake. It is also good to put a couple of peeled and blanched tomatoes on top, and sprinkle with cheese. Bake everything in a hot oven for a little over a quarter of an hour. Such pizza will cause enthusiasm and very quickly disappear from the plate.
Main course with sauce
We used to use a seafood mix as an ingredient for pizza or pilaf. Now let's try to make the main dish out of it. How to cook a frozen sea cocktail to get the second? The recipe is simple. To do this, you must first unfreeze it. Then salt, add a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce, white pepper and leave under the lid for thirty minutes. At this time, we will prepare the gravy. A few chopped cloves of garlic and fry the onion in olive oil. Then pour a glass of cream, another spoonful of soy sauce and a little stew. Add the marinated “tutti frutti de maare” and keep it on fire for several minutes. The sauce dish is ready. By the way, if you do not like soy seasoning, you can replace it with sour cream, and marinate seafood in a mixture of lemon juice and olive oil.
How to prepare a sea cocktail for beer?
You can turn a frozen product into a great snack. It goes well with beer, especially on a hot day. Defrosting seafood. We pickle them in a mixture of olive oil and soy sauce in a ratio of 2 to 1. You can even add a little lemon juice for sourness. Then drain the marinade and sauté the mix. How to cook a sea cocktail in a pan? We have already turned a frozen product into a chilled one. If it is already cooked, then fry it for no more than five minutes. It is then that the marine mix will become crispy and will become a great beer snack.
We use kitchen devices
Many housewives prefer to cook in the old way - in a pan, in the oven, in a pan. But we are modern people, and we often do not have free time. Let's try experimenting with a slow cooker. How to cook a frozen sea cocktail in this device? Pour a little olive oil into the bowl. Dice the onion and place it there. We include the program "Frying". When the onion begins to acquire a golden color, add a couple of chopped cloves of garlic and thawed seafood to the bowl. As usual, fry them for no more than five minutes. Now add finely chopped tomato or a couple of tablespoons of high-quality tomato paste. The main course is ready to serve. For a side dish, rice, pasta, bulgur or couscous are best suited for it.