MAIN INGREDIENTS
Loimulohi is a traditional method of preparing salmon or rainbow trout. The fish is smoked on a wooden plank that's placed vertically over an open fire. Before the process, the salmon is usually seasoned with sea salt and drizzled or brushed with lemon juice, honey, or juniper berries.
The cooking time depends on the distance from the coals. Once done, the smoky fish can be eaten straight off the plank.
MAIN INGREDIENTS
A quintessential seafood delicacy of the Greek island of Symi, simiako garidaki or Symi shrimp is a unique variety of tiny shrimps that inhabit the sea around the island. Bright red, delicate, and sweet, the small crustaceans are packed with flavor, which has made them famous throughout the whole country and beyond.
The most common way to enjoy these tiny crustaceans is crispy-fried in olive oil and garlic, typically seasoned with nothing else than salt and pepper. Due to their delicate nature, the fried shrimps are usually eaten whole, including tails, shells, and heads.
Vieiras en su concha is a traditional dish originating from Galicia, consisting of scallops served in their shells. The dish is usually made with a combination of scallops, olive oil, onions, garlic, pimentón, white wine, tomato sauce, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, and parsley.
The garlic, onions, and pimentón are sautéed in olive oil, then covered with wine, tomato sauce, and seasonings in order to create a sauce. The scallops are boiled and arranged on a baking sheet in their shells, then topped with the tomato mixture, breadcrumbs, and parsley.
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Fritto misto is one of those dishes that differs widely across the country. Along the Italian seaside, it will always include crustaceans and mollusks, typically shrimp and squid, and often paranza, which is a collective name for very small whole fish such as fresh anchovies, sardines, baby mackerel, or mullet.
In northern parts of the country, particularly in Piedmont, fritto misto is mostly made with vegetables and, depending on the season, includes semolina, veal brain, brochettes of cheese and prosciutto, sometimes even apples and amaretti biscuits.
VARIATIONS OF Fritto misto
MOST ICONIC Fritto misto
View moreMAIN INGREDIENTS
One of Italy's all-time favorites, linguine allo scoglio, often also dubbed linguine ai frutti di mare is a typical southern Italian seafood dish or piatto di mare. Back in the 1980s in the wider Neapolitan area, as well as along the entire southern Italian coast, there was reportedly not a single restaurant that didn't offer some version of such a timeless classic on its menu.
This pasta entrée is made with either linguine or spaghetti, and a combination of seafood and shellfish, preferably coming from fresh local catch of the day. Considering seafood seasonality, what Neapolitan and any other scoglio (lit. reef; rock) has to offer varies from month to month, so there is no precise recipe for this dish, and there are countless variations in existence, but the most traditional ones always include clams, mussels, shrimps, and sometimes even calamaretti or baby squids.
Serve with
MOST ICONIC Linguine allo scoglio
View moreMAIN INGREDIENTS
Gambas al ajillo is a popular Spanish appetizer consisting of shrimps that are sautéed in a pan with minced garlic, lemon juice, paprika, and olive oil. The dish is usually consumed as a tapa. It is recommended to garnish gambas al ajillo with chopped parsley and pair it with some crusty bread on the side, which is useful for mopping up the flavorful sauce.
MOST ICONIC Gambas al ajillo
View moreGravlax is a Scandinavian dish consisting of raw, salt-cured salmon that is traditionally seasoned with dill. Originally, the dish was made by fishermen who used to bury the salt, sugar, and dill-rubbed salmon above the line of high tide and leave it to ferment.
At the time, it was characterized by its pungent flavor and odor, but today, gravlax is cured under refrigeration. The name gravlax comes from a combination of two words, grav, meaning buried, and lax, meaning salmon, referring to the original method of production.
MOST ICONIC Gravlax
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Lohikeitto is a creamy Finish salmon soup, similar to laxsoppa in Sweden. Apart from chunks of salmon fillet, it traditionally incorporates diced potatoes and carrots cooked in a flavorful, buttery broth infused with fish stock and cream.
This comforting winter dish is generously seasoned with dill and served alongside buttered rye bread or lemon wedges.
MOST ICONIC Lohikeitto
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Named after the 19th-century poet Raimundo António de Bulhão Pato, this simple Portuguese dish combines clams and a flavorful sauce that is based on olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, and fresh cilantro. However, the sauce can also have white wine as one of its ingredients.
Bulhão Pato clams are typically enjoyed as an appetizer and are usually served with bread on the side.
MOST ICONIC Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato
View moreKalakeitto or fish soup has been a staple of traditional Finnish cuisine for a long time. Although there are numerous ways to prepare this classic Finnish specialty, it typically consists of cleaned and filleted fish chunks and diced vegetables that are simmered in a rich, buttery fish broth.
Carrots, potatoes, onions, and leeks are among the most common vegetables used for the soup’s preparation, while the choice of fish includes salmon, rainbow trout, vendace, pike, perch, zander, or burbot. Traditionally, the soup is enhanced with the addition of butter and cooking cream (ruokakermaa), and it is usually flavored with dill, allspice, bay leaves, salt, and pepper.
TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. For the “Top 100 European Seafood Dishes” list until February 14, 2025, 15,054 ratings were recorded, of which 11,105 were recognized by the system as legitimate. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.