Seafood Starters for Christmas

I love seafood all year round, but especially at Christmas.  As part of my OMS Christmas menu, I've come up with a selection of seafood starters sure to impress your family at Christmas.

Fresh Oysters with 3 Dressings

Now you either love or hate oysters.  My husband loves them.  When we first started dating we went to a seafood buffet and he helped himself to over 70 oysters!!!  Here, I bought some South Australian Coffin Bay oysters and prepared 3 simple dressings.  To make the dressings, just place all the ingredients into an empty jam jar with a lid and shake to combine.

Lime Dressing - 1 tablespoon (3 teaspoons) lime juice, 1 tablespoon caster sugar, 1/2 teaspoon grated lime zest, 1 tablespoon chopped mint.  To make this sauce spicy, you could add a little chopped chilli or chilli sauce.

Vinaigrette - 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 2 teaspoons vinegar (I used red-wine vinegar) and half a French shallot finely diced (1-2 teaspoons).

Sesame & Soy - 1 tablespoon light soy sauce or tamari, 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, 1 teaspoon finely shredded ginger.

These dressings are best made just prior to serving.  You can make them ahead of time, but don't add the mint to the lime dressing until you are ready to serve or it will turn brown.

Fresh Cooked Prawns with 2 Dipping Sauces

Prawns (also called shrimp) are a filter-feeder which means they strain food particles from the water.  The quality of the prawn depends on the quality of the water they live in.  I only buy fresh Australian & New Zealand prawns.  The prawns I've used here are wild caught Eastern King prawns caught off the Queensland coast.

Sweet Chilli & Lime Dipping Sauce - mix together 2 tablespoons (6 teaspoons) sweet chilli sauce, 1 tablespoon lime juice and 1 teaspoon fish sauce (optional).

Mango & Mint Dipping Sauce - puree half a mango cheek (100g/3.5oz) with a stick (immersion) blender, then add 2 teaspoons lime juice (or to taste) and a couple of teaspoons of freshly chopped mint.  I also added some chopped red chilli (optional).  To make a creamier version of this sauce you can add a tablespoon of Greek-style soy yoghurt.

You can make these sauces in advance and keep them in the fridge.  Don't add the mint to the mango sauce until just before serving.  These sauces would easily do 1-2 kilograms of prawns.

To serve, put the prawns on a platter with the dipping sauces.  Don't forget to put out a container for the shells and maybe some bowls filled with warm water and lemon to wash fingers.

To make individual servings, place the prawns in a glass just like when you order a pint of prawns at the pub.

Mini-Crab Salad Canapes
Makes enough salad to fill 24 cucumber cups
1 avocado, peeled, de-stoned and diced into small cubes
200 grams/7 oz crab meat
squeeze of lemon or lime juice
salt & pepper to taste

Dressing:
2 tablespoons flax seed oil or extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon mustard (I used Dijon)
1 teaspoon honey

To make the dressing, mix all the ingredients together in a jam jar and shake well.
Pick over the crab meat to check for shells, and place the meat in a bowl.  Add the avocado, squeeze of juice and season.  Pour the dressing over the crab and gently fold it through.

I served the crab salad in cucumber cups so they would look good and add some crunch to the salad.  To make cucumber cups, use a melon baller to remove the centre section, then cut the cucumber - mine ended up being about 2cm thick.

Other ways to serve the salad would be - on witlof leaves (bear in mind, these are bitter tasting), thin slices of apple, small pieces of toasted bagel, and many homewares shops sell special spoons and dishes for serving canapes.

So there are some tasty seafood starters.  If you wanted a cold seafood collection as a main, you could easily add some lobster, crayfish, Moreton Bay or Balmain bugs to the mix and you would have a seafood feast.

Thank you to the lovely Emily, on my MS retreat, who gave me some photography tips.  It helps to know what a light meter is.

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