Salad of Seafood with Tomatoes & Roasted Lemons - Salad Days # 7

Yesterday was my birthday, and of course a birthday calls for celebration food.  Staying with my salad theme this month, I had been thinking along the lines of perhaps a duck and crispy noodle salad.  But then, my lovely friend Martine, who knows me so well, gave me a couple of crayfish tails.  If you're a seafood lover, you will know that few birthday gifts can rate as highly as crayfish tails!

I already had some scallops on hand and some prawns, so there was no doubt there was a substantial seafood salad in the making.

The crayfish and prawns were lightly poached until just cooked through - take care not to overcook them - and the scallops sauteed in a little olive oil.

Further inspiration came from this recipe from my food hero, Yotam Ottolenghi.  I just couldn't go past those roasted lemons.  One or two lemons (depending on how many people you are serving) are sliced wafer thin and blanched in boiling water for a couple of minutes.  After draining the lemons, toss them gently with a little olive oil, generous sprinkling of flaky sea salt, drizzle of honey, and a generous handful of fresh oregano leaves, finely chopped.  Spread the lemons in a single layer on a lined baking tray, and roast in an oven preheated to 160 degrees C (325 degrees F) until starting to char.

Remove lemons from the oven and toss with chopped tomatoes (use as much variety of colours and sizes as you can) and avocado.  Drizzle over a little extra virgin olive oil, some roughly chopped flat leaf parsley, and a generous sprinkling of sumac.  Toss gently to combine everything.

Add seafood to the bowl, and once again toss gently to mix everything together.  Arrange on a serving platter and serve immediately.

I finished everything off with a drizzle of this Preserved Lemon Dressing.

The creamy avocados, tangy bite of the tomatoes, and caramelised lemons, along with the citrus tang of the sumac and the preserved lemon dressing compliment the sweet, delicate seafood beautifully without overpowering it.  This was definitely a dish fit for a special occasion - thanks, Martine xo

This is salad number 7 in my Salad Days, 28 days of salad project.   What's that you ask?  Well,  I've said it here a dozen times or more ... I love salads.  A big bowl, substantial salad is hands down my favourite meal any time of the year.  Such is my love of salad, that I'm challenging myself to come up with a different salad every day for the month of February - that's 28 days of salads - and I plan to share as many of them as I can with you.  I'll also be doing some flashbacks to some of my favourite salads I've shared in the past.

What's more, I'm giving you the opportunity to share some of your favourite salads with me too.  Have a favourite salad you'd like to share?  Simply link up your salad recipe using the linky tool at the bottom of this post.  The linky will be open all month, and you can join in any day or every day, and link as many recipes as you like.  Feel free to grab the Salad Days badge from the sidebar to include in your post if you'd like to.  There's really no rules around linking up, other than please, use your manners and link your post back to this one.  Linking old posts is fine too, just please edit them to include the back link.  Thanks for sharing your favourite salad with us.