Shellfish

Grapefruit and crab are a classic combo; the addition of pickled radishes is both a colorful and surprising flavorful enhancement. Leftover vinaigrette will keep covered in the refrigerator for up to two days and goes great with all shellfish, particularly shrimp.

This mix of lobster, avocado, and papaya is a luxurious alternative to your everyday salad. It’s sweet and creamy, perfect in the summer on a hot day. With the exception of cutting the avocado, all of the ingredients for the salad can be prepared ahead of time. Then, assembling the salad becomes a quickie. Leftover jade dressing will keep covered in the refrigerator for up to two days and is fantastic with grilled lamb chops.

Clams steamed in beer is a favorite pub dish, and for good reason. The aroma of the hops in beer perfumes the shellfish and the malty flavor adds an extra roundness to the broth. Your kitchen will smell amazing! The sweetness of the clams, the licorice essence of fennel, the salty-smoky depth of bacon, and the slight bitterness of the stout make this a complex and flavor-packed dish.

I know it’s a bold statement, but this is the best damn crab cake you’re ever gonna eat! Unlike most recipes, this one doesn’t depend on bread crumbs or any other filler to hold the crab together. Sweet, succulent crab is mixed with not much more than butter and cream, which, when chilled, binds the crab cake together beautifully. When panfried, the outside gets crisp and brown while the butter melts inside, and what you bite into are warm lumps of luscious crab. When you want to pull out all the stops, this dish is impressive, elegant, and looks and tastes fantastic. The crab cake mixture is best if made ahead so it has sufficient time to chill and harden. For an hors d’oeuvre, form the crab mixture into mini cakes. The super simple carrot butter sauce adds not only a bit more richness but also a subtle sweetness and vibrant color. Try it with grilled fish, too.

Ceviche is a much-loved dish in Miami, with a million delicious variations. In a nutshell, it’s seafood that is prepared by marinating in citrus juice, which makes the fish more opaque and firm, just as if it had been cooked with heat. I like to keep my recipe pretty straightforward and often use grouper, a favorite local fish. If you want to play around with other kinds of seafood, snapper, striped bass, scallops, and halibut are all the right texture. Whichever you choose, it’s important to start with the freshest, cleanest fish possible. The bright, refreshing combo of orange, lemon, and lime with creamy avocado and sweet mango makes for a great balance of texture, flavor, and visual appeal. If I had to describe it, I’d say it tastes like sashimi salsa! A little of the kimchi base adds another level of pow. You can sub a good hot sauce but trust me; it’s crazy good with the kimchi! As with all cold preparations, all of the ingredients should be cold to start. Also take the time to chill your serving bowls to ensure the dish is enjoyed at the proper temperature. For a cocktail party, serve the ceviche in tablespoons or wonton spoons as single bites.

In a good oyster stew, the oyster liquor is as important as the meat itself: the point is to surround the warm, barely cooked oysters with a rich, briny cream. Use only very fresh, tasty oysters; since the only other ingredients are cream and butter, the stew will only be as flavorful as the oysters themselves. Serve with a stack of crisp hot buttered toast.

In restaurants, raw oysters tend to be disappointing and expensive. At home they are a slightly messy but relatively cheap treat. Skip the sweet cocktail sauce and serve them with a bottle of good hot sauce—classic and delicious.

The amount of crab and shrimp you need will depend on appetites and on how well your guests know each other. When you serve crabs in mixed company, even dear friends will shock you with their daintiness, but if it’s a family dinner, as ours is tonight, you might expect people to put away eight or ten crabs apiece. If crabs aren’t available, a seafood boil is equally delicious with just shrimp, especially if they are wild ones, still fresh enough to have their heads on.

The simplest way to enjoy wild shrimp is to cook them fast and serve them warm, still in their shells, with melted butter. This recipe takes the opposite but equally flavorful tack: the shrimp are slow-cooked, infusing the entire soup with sweet shrimpiness.