Need Affordable, Delicious Seafood/Fish Bday Dinner ideas

[sste]

Please! For DH. We normally do lobster but it is a bigger group this year and too expensive.

Looking for something relatively affordable for fish/seafood, not too fussy or make-ahead, and dinner party delicious.

I am thinking about cioppino but all the seafood stew things I have ever done have been underwhelming.

Thanks in advance for any ideas . . .

[mommylamb]

Do you have any of the ethnic supermarkets convenient to you? The one I go to regularly has live lobsters in the tank from $4.99-$6.99/lb.

[boolady]

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/seafood-gratin-recipe/index.html

Ignore the terrible photo on the food network website. This is a delicious and elegant dish. You can make individual gratins or one or two large ones. Serve with grilled asparagus, a mixed greens salad and crusty bread. It requires some prep but can definitely be made ahead.

[Aishe]

A couple shrimp recipes:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Orzo-with-Shrimp-Feta-Cheese-and-White-Wine-107904

http://food52.com/recipes/16746-jacques-pepin-s-shrimp-gratin

Or what about baking a whole fish? Something like this:
http://food52.com/recipes/2462-whole-baked-fish-in-sea-salt-with-parsley-gremolata

This also looks pretty foolproof. Amanda Hesser has never let me down.
http://food52.com/recipes/4155-olive-oil-poached-fish-or-shellfish

[MMMommy]

I love a good Seafood Pan Roast. I've had the Palace Station version, which some recipes try to emulate. Never tried these pan roast recipes, but here are a few-

http://thenoodleguy.com/2012/05/09/palace-station-pan-roast-recipe/

http://foodwinethyme.com/seafood-pan-roast/

http://www.food.com/recipe/seafood-pan-roast-179375

http://www.copykat.com/2009/02/04/silver-legacy-casino-seafood-pan-roast/

[Pepper]

Paella is good for a crowd. You can add shrimp, fish fillets, clams, mussels, even a couple of lobsters (cook them and then separate the clase and tails so everyone gets a piece) or buy crab claws and use those instead.

There are tons of recipes out there. I like the one called "birthday party paella" on Epicurious: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Birthday-Party-Paella-101008. You could leave out the chicken and sausage if you like, and just do seafood, though I really like the combination of seafood & sausage myself :-)

Hmm now that I think on it some more I *really* like this recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Seafood-Sausage-and-Bell-Pepper-Paella-2027

If the quantity gets too large, you can spilt the recipe into two (or more, depending on the size of your stove and oven) pans. Leftover paella tastes great and freezes well, too.

You've got me craving paella!

[MontrealMum]

I would do a poached salmon, like this: http://www.katherinemartinelli.com/blog/2012/julia-childs-poached-salmon-with-cucumber-sauce/
or this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/wholepoachedsalmonan_74098 (you can always use aluminum foil)
or grill a salmon on a cedar plank: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cedar-plank-grilled-salmon-with-garlic-lemon-and-dill/
http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-grill-salmon-on-a-cedar-152412

Serving whole fish on a nice platter always looks impressive, but doesn't take much effort.

[sste]

Thank you so much everyone. Now I can't decide these all look so good. I am leaning toward a gratin/bake or maybe the poached salmon (unfortunately no longer a Costco member as they sell nice sides for that).

Thank you again! I am salivating reading these . . .

[mctlaw]

Hi SSTE1:waving4:

I second that the seafood gratin suggested by Boolady is awesome. I made it for Christmas dinner a couple years ago and would serve it for something like this in a heartbeat.

Just wanted to throw out another salmon idea if you decide to go that route - how about a puff pastry wrapped salmon?

Hope the dinner turns out lovely!

[sste]

I wanted to update. I was all set to do gratin but then found out FIL is on special heart healthy diet. Salmon was pricey this week. So I reverted to cioppino but found a great recipe on foodnetwork http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/cioppino-a-fine-kettle-of-fish-recipe/index.html

It was a huge hit! People were asking for the recipe and my husband ate it the next day for breakfast and dinner he liked it so much. If you make this, I would use the 3 anchovies (it doesn't taste like anchovies I swear) and a 28 oz can of tomatoes is more than tomato-y enough -- use high quality tomatoes. Also cook the shrimp less than the recipe says. In fact, all of my seafood cooked in well under the 10 minutes rec'd in the recipe. I used jumbo shrimp, mussels, and large pieces of cod. It is easy and quick and you can make everything ahead except adding the seafood which you should do at the last minute. There is another cioppino recipe on foodnetwork that is very highly reviewed too and uses fennel.

I am going to try the gratin when it is just dh and I for our anniversary. :)

[boolady]

Glad you found something! I'm going to try your cioppino recipe soon...it looks great.