Flay's Superb Seafood Cocktails

If you think seafood cocktail really is just about shrimp and bad bottled cocktail sauce, then it's time for you to try chef Bobby Flay's recipes.

A traditional cocktail sauce is a combination of ketchup or chili sauce with prepared horseradish, lemon juice and Tabasco sauce or other hot red pepper seasoning.

Cocktail sauce is used with seafood and as a condiment for hors d'oeuvres. But on The Early Show Monday, Flay shows how to make delicious, inventive seafood cocktails using unusual ingredients such as coconut milk and tomatillos.

These recipes are very reflective of the food Flay will serve at his new restaurant, Bar Americain. And you will see how easy these recipes are.

The crab and lobster recipes, in particular, really just require you to whisk all the ingredients together.

Try them out.

In Bar Americain, Executive Chef Flay will celebrate the regional foods of America with a dose of the bold flavors. He offers his interpretations of the many dishes he's encountered during his time in the culturally rich and diverse regions of the United States. Examples include Shellfish cocktails - shrimp-tomatillo, crab-coconut, and lobster-avocado; Carolina smoked trout salad, yellow beets; Fulton fish market cioppino, sour dough toast; Rack of pork, apple ginger chutney, creamed corn, sour mash; and tasty side dishes such as Potato chips with blue cheese sauce and Creamed kale.

Recipes:
Crab-Coconut Cocktail
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
2 cups unsweetened coconut milk
3 tablespoons Habanero Hot Sauce, or more if you like it spicier
Juice of 2 limes
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 1/2 pounds lump crab meat, picked over
1/2 ripe mango, peeled, pitted and finely diced
Thinly sliced endive
Thinly sliced radicchio
1 bag fried plantain chips (found in most grocery stores today or Latin markets) or fried tortilla chips
Fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish

Method:

1. Whisk together coconut milk, hot sauce, lime juice, honey, salt and pepper in a large bowl, cover and let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes.
2. Gently fold in the crab, mango, endive and radicchio and stir to combine.
3. Using a slotted spoon, divide the mixture among 4 martini glasses and garnish around the perimeter with 3-4 plantain chips and a few fresh cilantro leaves.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
2 lemons, quartered
1 1/2 pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined

Method:

1. Fill a medium saucepan with 2 quarts of cold water, add the salt, coriander, peppercorns, and lemon wedges, squeezing the juice into the pot first, and bring to a boil.
2. Let boil for 5 minutes. Turn the heat off, add the shrimp, cover and let the shrimp sit in the liquid for 15 minutes, to cook through and absorb the flavor.
3. Drain the shrimp in a colander, place in a bowl, cover and let chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Ingredients:
12 tomatillos, husked and washed
1 large red onion, coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 jalapenos, chopped
2 tablespoons canola oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/4 cup prepared horseradish drained
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place tomatillos, onion, garlic and jalapeno in a medium roasting pan, toss with the oil and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the mixture is soft, but do not allow it to color, 20-25 minutes.
2. Transfer to a food processor and process until smooth. Add the vinegar, horseradish and cilantro and pulse just to combine, season with salt and pepper. Scrape into a bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup fresh limejuice
2 teaspoons honey
2 tablespoons prepared horseradish, drained
1 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1 tablespoon chopped tarragon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 lb lobsters, steamed, meat removed and coarsely chopped
1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and chopped
1/4 cup chopped watercress

Method:

1. Whisk together limejuice, honey, horseradish, Worcestershire, Tabasco, tarragon and salt and pepper in a medium bowl.
2. Add the lobster, avocado and watercress.