Dama-Inspired Seafood Tostada
- Level: Intermediate
- Yield: 8 tostadas, plus additional Seafood Salad
-
- Nutritional Analysis
- Per Serving
- Serving Size
- 1 of 8 servings
- Calories
- 762
- Total Fat
- 65
- Saturated Fat
- 9
- Carbohydrates
- 17
- Dietary Fiber
- 5
- Sugar
- 4
- Protein
- 31
- Cholesterol
- 251
- Sodium
- 965
- Total: 1 hr 30 min (includes cooling time)
- Active: 1 hr
Ingredients
Seafood:
1 pound octopus, cleaned and tentacles separated (see Cook’s Note)
1 lemon
6 to 8 sprigs cilantro
2 cloves garlic, peeled
8 cups olive oil
1 pound calamari, cleaned
1 pound 16/20 shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails removed
Pickled Chiles:
1 cup white vinegar
1 teaspoon cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon sugar
3 Fresno chiles, very thinly sliced (1/2 cup)
Tostadas:
Vegetable oil, for frying
8 street taco size tortillas (or premade tostadas)
Kosher salt
Salad:
1 cup thinly sliced or shaved Persian cucumber
1 cup thinly sliced or shaved radish
1/2 red onion, peeled and shaved
2 avocados, pitted and diced
2 ears corn, kernels removed
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
Kosher salt
2 lemons, juiced (1 cup)
Directions
- For the seafood: Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil.
- Place the octopus tentacles in a heavy-duty zip-top bag. Peel the lemon and add the peel to the bag, along with 4 to 5 sprigs of cilantro and 1 smashed garlic clove. Seal the bag, removing as much air as possible, and put it into your boiling water pot. To keep the bag under water, place 2 clean kitchen towels over the bag in the pot and push down the towels with a wooden spoon; the weight of the wet towels will help keep the octopus submerged. Put on the lid and lower the heat to medium. Cook the octopus until tender, about 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, in another large pot, add the olive oil and heat to 110 degrees F. Smash the remaining garlic clove and add to the oil, along with 2 to 3 springs of cilantro.
- Grab the calamari and shrimp from the fridge. Separate the tentacles from the body of the calamari and remove any cartilage. Pull the wings off your calamari tubes and cut them into 1/2-inch-thick rings. Poach the calamari tentacles and rings in the oil until cooked through, about 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to a baking sheet.
- Peel, devein and remove the tails from your shrimp. Add the cleaned shrimp to the oil and poach until pink and cooked through, about 3 minutes, then remove with a slotted spoon to the baking sheet with the calamari. Refrigerate the shrimp and calamari until cool.
- Use tongs to transfer the bag with the octopus to a large bowl and dispose of the water. Use tongs to transfer the octopus from the bag to a plate and discard the bag and liquid. Refrigerate the octopus until cool.
- For the pickled chiles: In a small frying pan, add the vinegar, cilantro leaves and sugar and bring to a boil. Put the Fresno chiles in a bowl, then pour your hot vinegar mixture over the top. Set aside.
- For the tostadas: Grab a large Dutch oven, pour in about 2 inches of vegetable oil and heat over medium heat until it reaches 300 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with paper towels. Working in batches, add the tortillas to the oil in Dutch oven and fry the tortillas until golden, 1 to 2 minutes each. Remove with a slotted spoon to the prepared baking sheet, and salt immediately. Set aside.
- For the salad: In a large bowl, mix together the cucumber, radish, red onion, avocado, corn and cilantro. Add your calamari tubes and tentacles to the salad, then cut your shrimp on the bias into slices and drop it in the bowl. Cut your octopus into very small pieces and add to the salad. Add the Fresno chiles, salt and lemon juice, then mix together with 2 big spoons.
- To serve, place a heaping spoonfuls of seafood salad on top of the crispy tostada shells. Do you taste the echo?
Cook’s Note
If using a whole octopus, call whoever you live with to help you deal with the raw octopus. Remove the head and beak and discard. Trim the bottoms of the legs with scissors. Use a knife to separate the legs.