The spring and summer months are a great time to spotlight local, sustainable fish options. If you've been looking for a dish that is sure to have people talking for months after your next cookout, a hearty, flavorful seafood salad that focuses on quality products may be just the thing you need. Before you reach out to a local seafood restaurant for a solution, here's an idea of what you can try.

Start With Crab Meat

A good foundation for any seafood salad is quality crab meat. Crab is hearty, dense enough to be the core of a seafood salad and full of flavor. Opt for claw meat or a lump meat mixture if you want something that will stand up to the mix of flavors. In addition, the large pieces and the deeper color of this type of meat will make the salad look great.

Choose The Right Shrimp

The next component you should add to the seafood salad is shrimp. If you want a lot of shrimp flavor and you want it to stand out, consider adding a mixture of both small shrimp and canned tiny shrimp. Make sure that the small shrimp are cleaned and deveined. Canned tiny shrimp is usually cleaned before canning. As an alternative, you can use just one size or the other.

Add Bulk With Tuna

When you're creating a seafood salad that has well-rounded flavor and substance, consider adding tuna as well. White albacore tuna is a great option, because it is meatier than some of the chunk light options. Just be sure that you choose tuna packed in water. Tuna packed in oil will alter the consistency of the final salad, and it adds unnecessary calories.

Putting It All Together

You'll want about two pounds of crab meat along with roughly a pound of shrimp. Add in two cans of tuna, then combine everything together. Once the seafood is mixed together, dice two stalks of celery and one or two scallions. Mix in enough mayonnaise to hold everything together and then add a half-teaspoon or so of celery salt and garlic powder. Mix everything well so that all of the flavors are distributed. Refrigerate it overnight before serving.

If you're not confident in your kitchen skills, don't have time to pull it together or would rather have your party's seafood dishes catered, talk with a local seafood restaurant today. They are sure to be able to source the seafood you're looking for and create a dish that will be a hit.