Two classic dishes—Italian-style seafood salad and refreshing pasta salad— collide in this perfect summer dish, bright with lemon and olive oil. The secret is in the selection of pasta: Asian rice noodles deliver the perfect texture and flavor-absorbing powers to make every bite taste like pure seafood-salad bliss. – Daniel Gritzer

Why It Works

• Two salads become one.
• A mix of very lightly cooked seafood flavored with olive oil, lemon, and herbs provides plenty of bright, fresh flavor.
• Vietnamese-style rice noodles pair perfectly with the springy texture of the seafood while also absorbing flavor.

Notes

We use rice noodles with a medium, linguine-like width (often labeled “rice stick” on the package), but if you can’t find them you can substitute another rice noodle, like vermicelli or pad Thai noodles.

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Ingredients

• 1 pound thin Vietnamese noodles (see note above)
• 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 pound cleaned squid bodies and tentacles, bodies thinly sliced crosswise
• 8 ounces lump crab meat, picked over for shells
• 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 6 tablespoons fresh juice from 3 lemons
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1 fresh medium red chili, such as Fresno, stemmed, seeded, and minced
• 2 medium cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup minced parsley leaves and tender stems (about 1/2 bunch)
• 10 fresh large mint leaves, very thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons minced chives (about 1 bunch)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook noodles until tender, according to package instructions. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold running water to chill. Set aside to drain thoroughly.
2. In a medium pot of salted boiling water, cook shrimp until just cooked through and pink all over, about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to an ice bath to chill. Next, cook squid in the same pot of boiling water until tender and cooked through, about 2 minutes; transfer to ice bath to chill. Drain shrimp and squid well and pat dry.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine shrimp, squid, crab meat, olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, minced chili, garlic, parsley, mint, and chives and toss well to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Add noodles and toss to combine. Season once more with salt and pepper, and drizzle more olive oil on top as desired. Serve lightly chilled or at room temperature.