A seafood platter is one of the best party food platters to serve during the festive season. The festival season is just around the corner and many people are busy planning a dinner party for their friends and family.
A unique way to make your party more memorable is to host a grand dinner with a scrumptious yet unbelievably easy starter. This will have their mouth’s watering for years to come!
Party food platters are ideal for get-togethers as they can be adjusted according to the number of guests. Above all, there is always many snacks to suit the crowd. A selection of oysters, smoked salmon, and prawns served with wine or cold beer is enough for a great party.
Moreover, you can add finger bowls and side towels to add a touch of care and good hospitability.
However, if you are still wondering about what seafood you should serve, how to make a seafood platter and make it more appealing, you have come to the right page. Here is a short and informative guide to putting together a grand fish platter for your party.
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How to choose seafood?
When it comes to cooking seafood, there is no time for half-measures. We must start with the basics. While selecting your seafood, ensure that it has a salty, fresh smell like the ocean and not a strong fishy aroma.
Select seafood with bright colours and shells must be shiny and not dry. The best trick to know about fresh seafood is when you touch it; it should feel firm.
What seafood to include?
The reason why party food platters are great to serve is that you can decide on a variety of items and alter portion sizes according to your guest list. If you love smoked salmon, have a larger portion of it, and are not a fan of shrimps, you can keep its portion limited.
Moreover, you can focus on hot items and it is absolutely up to you how to cook but this could give an idea for beginners.
Prawns
Who doesn’t love prawns! They can be served in several ways and are easy to prepare. If you don’t want to include cooked prawns, you can now buy pre-cooked prawns and add them to your fish platter.
Prawns are perfect for the centre spot. You can pick your favourite variety and pile them on either side of the plate or serve alongside crayfish.
Oysters
Either you love it or hate it, but they are easy to cook and demand less preparation. You can just shuck them and serve them on ice.
If you choose cooked oysters, try to avoid serving them on the same dish and use a smaller dish for serving.
Crab legs
Although crab legs are not essential for this dish, they are quite delicious and would surely impress your guests if included. You can opt for boiled crab along with a bowl of drawn butter. It is up to you to choose the seafood platter accompaniments.
Clams and mussels
Clams are ideal for dinner parties. You can serve them raw or steam for a few minutes and require little preparation.
Lobster
Including lobster in your mixed starter dish will add a classy touch. Lobsters lovers would go crazy after the sight of it at the dinner table. As live lobsters demand proper precautions for storage, you can order it online or cook it the day you buy it.
Moreover, you can buy lobster that has been already cooked and frozen at sea and chop the meat for ease of serving.
Sauces
Any seafood platter would be incomplete without a few lemons or lime wedges. Alternatively, if you want to add a sophisticated look and extra flavour, opt for dipping sauces.
After all, it is one of many party food platters, you can add and remove whichever seafood you want. You can add your favourite fish such as tuna and add smoked salmon if you want.
How to know the serving size and freshness
Needless to mention, seafood must be served fresh. Fresh seafood not only tastes good but also makes the dish more presentable. Thus, it is best that you get your seafood delivery on the day you plan the dinner party.
Get as much as seafood you want depending on the number of guests and what kind of seafood you choose. As shells contribute to the highest part of your shellfish, you should not order according to weight.
It is best that you order a bit more rather than falling short while serving. You can always cook a fish pie with the leftovers.
How to make a seafood platter?
Finally, it is the seafood platter arrangement. This is the fun part of your meal. If you want to make an impression, get a multi-tiered seafood tower. This would give your additional space to properly layout your seafood and garnishes.
Do not worry if you go overboard with this; just be creative with your seafood, sauces, and garnishes.
Seafood Platter Recipe
Ingredients
- 200 g prawns
- 8 oysters
- 200 g smoked salmon
- 1 lobster
- 2 crab legs
- 100 g clams
- 100 g mussels
- fresh ice optional
- 4 lemon wedges
Sauce
- 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon mustard
- 3 tablespoon mayonaise
- dill
Instructions
Sauce
- Mix together the lemon juice, mustard and mayonnaise. Put this in a small bowl. Add dill as garnish.
Assemble
- Put your sauce in the middle of plate. Add fresh ice to the rest of the plate. This will help position the seafood on the plate later.
- Place any large seafood such as crab legs and lobster on to the plate first and in one corner. Place your oysters around the edge of the plate either next to your lobster and crab legs or directly opposite.
- Add prawns, clams and mussels in one corner. Place your smoked salmon one corner. You can style these by rolling them up.
- Finally add lemon wedges in any free space.
Nutrition
Calories have been calculated using an online calculator. Nutritional information offered on Honest Food Talks is for general information purposes and are only rough estimations.
Getting stainless steel would be a good choice for serving. It keeps your hot food warm and cold food cool. Do not forget to layer ice to keep seafood fresh and neatly arrange the items on the plate.
Keep cold and hot items on either side of the party platter. If you think that you have got large options such as crab legs or lobsters, keep these around the bottom of the tower and keep smaller pieces at the top.
Seafood platter has become an attraction, even for in-house parties. Thus, the demand for seafood has increased over the last few years. According to Allied Market Research, the global seafood market is expected to reach $193.91 by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 2.5% from 2020 to 2027. The change in lifestyle and trend of serving restaurant-like dishes at home drive the market growth.
Follow just a few simple steps and you can serve a seafood platter for your next dinner party. Complete the dish along with white wine or cold beer if you have more beer lovers. Based on these instructions, you can throw a memorable dinner for sure.
Interested in making more easy snacks and starters at home? Find out how to make these 5 easy scallop recipes at home.
Muaie
Haman
Just what i need for my party
Ken Ho
What type of dinner plates (and size) go well with seafood platter and fish type dishes / platters? The type used in restaurants as well.
Honest Food Talks
Hey Ken! The answer is it varies on how many people you're serving! Dish type we recommend stainless steel. You might need a plate that is around 30 cm wide but you can use 2 smaller plates to create your platter at either end of the table!