Easy Seafood Salad

I turned thirty-four on Saturday. Thirty-four is not a milestone birthday — it's not thirty, not thirty-five, not the kind of number that makes you stop and take stock. But I'm taking stock anyway, because I'm a firefighter who cooks and thinks about time the way firefighters and cooks both think about time: as something finite, something you measure in shifts and simmer times, something that moves whether you're ready or not.

At thirty-four: I'm a Fire Captain. I have a wife who bought me a cast iron griddle for my birthday (a Lodge, pre-seasoned, twelve inches, perfect for everything from smash burgers to breakfast). I have a daughter who made me a card that says "Happy Birthday to the Best Cook in the World" with a drawing of me at the grill that's getting more accurate every year — she's added the smoker this time, and the garden. I have a son who gave me a stick from the backyard and said, "Present," with the total conviction of a child who believes that a stick is a legitimate gift. (It is. I'm keeping the stick.) I have sixty-one recipes in a notebook. I have three BBQ trophies. I have a garden that's producing jalapeños and a father who said my salsa is better than his.

Jessica's gift was the griddle and a card that said: "34 and still the hottest thing in the kitchen." She's hilarious. She's also right — not about me being hot, but about the kitchen being where I belong. The kitchen, the grill, the smoker, the garden, the firehouse, the backyard table where the family gathers. These are my places. These are where I exist most fully.

Birthday dinner: Roberto and Elena came over. I cooked my own birthday dinner because I wanted to — Jessica offered to take us out, but I've never been a restaurant-birthday guy. I want to stand at my own grill, cook for my own people, and eat at my own table. So I made a surf and turf: New York strips, reverse-seared (slow smoke at 225 until 115 internal, then screaming hot sear on the cast iron for ninety seconds per side), served with grilled shrimp in a garlic-chile butter. The steak was perfect — pink wall-to-wall with a crust like armor. The shrimp were sweet and spicy and disappeared in minutes.

Elena made tres leches cake. The tradition continues. Sofia put her hand in it. The tradition also continues. Diego put his face in it, which is a new tradition. Roberto ate a slice and said, "Happy birthday, mijo. You cook almost as good as your mother." Elena glowed. I laughed. Almost as good as Elena is the second-best compliment I could receive, after Roberto's "better than mine" on the salsa. Between the two of them, I might develop a healthy ego by forty.

The shrimp were gone before I even sat down — Roberto had a fork in the bowl before I’d finished slicing the steaks, and I took that as the highest compliment a cook can receive. If you’re not ready to stand at a screaming-hot cast iron at 225 degrees on your birthday, this Easy Seafood Salad gives you everything that made those shrimp sing — the brininess, the brightness, the kind of effortless crowd-pleaser that lets you actually sit at your own table and enjoy the people around it. Some birthdays you cook to show off. Some you cook to feed. This one is for feeding.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 10 min | Total Time: 25 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 lb medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
8 oz imitation crab (or real lump crab meat)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 stalks celery, finely diced
3 tablespoons red onion, finely minced
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional, for heat)
Salt and black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons fresh parsley or dill, chopped

Instructions

Cook the shrimp. Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil. Add shrimp and cook 2—3 minutes until pink and opaque. Drain immediately and transfer to an ice bath to stop cooking. Once cooled, pat dry and roughly chop into bite-sized pieces.
Prep the crab. If using imitation crab, shred or chop into pieces similar in size to the shrimp. If using lump crab, pick through for any shells and leave the larger pieces mostly intact.
Make the dressing. In a large bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, lemon juice, Old Bay, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper until smooth.
Combine. Add the shrimp, crab, celery, and red onion to the dressing. Fold gently until everything is evenly coated. Taste and adjust seasoning — add more lemon for brightness or more Old Bay for depth.
Chill and rest. Cover and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes before serving. This lets the flavors come together. The salad holds well for up to 2 days in the fridge.
Serve. Garnish with fresh parsley or dill. Serve chilled on its own, over butter lettuce, on crackers, or stuffed into a toasted hoagie roll for a proper seafood salad sandwich.

Nutrition (per serving)

Easy Seafood Salad — The Shrimp That Stole the Show at My Birthday Surf and Turf