Summer Tuna Salad

Cook’s notes: This summer tuna salad does not contain mayonnaise. The key to a good chopped salad is to make sure that items are cut into relatively uniform sizes. I bought organic tuna for this salad, and it made a surprising difference in the quality of the flavor. Store the tuna mixture separate from the leafy greens, and you can eat leftovers the next day without having a wilted salad.

Hold the mayo!

Red Wine Vinaigrette:
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon mustard
1 Tablespoon honey
1/2 Tablespoon Italian herb mix
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Combine the vinegar, mustard, honey, herbs, and salt. Stir until the honey dissolves. Whisk continuously and add the oil in a slow stream until incorporated. (You can also put the vinaigrette ingredients in a lidded jar. Seal well, and shake vigorously.)

 

Tuna Salad

Combine ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Serve the tuna salad on a bed of mixed leafy greens or baby spinach. Drizzle with Red Wine Vinaigrette.

6 oz albacore tuna packed in water, drained and flaked with a fork
1/3 cup diced mixed olives (without pits)
5 oz box cherry tomatoes, halved
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 English cucumber, peeled and diced

Menu: Skillet Salmon and Tomatoes

• Skillet Salmon (20 minutes). Makes 4 servings. Heat 1 Tablespoon olive oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add 4 salmon fillets (1 lb). Cook 5 minutes on each side or until salmon flakes easily with fork. Remove from skillet; cover to keep warm.
• Roasted tomatoes: Coat a glass pie-pan with cooking spray. Toss together 2 pint boxes of grape tomatoes and 1 diced onion with 1 Tablespoon olive oil. Place vegetables in the pie pan. Cook at 400F for 35 minutes until tomatoes soften and begin to burst.
• Brown rice: from Trader Joe’s freezer section. Microwave one pouch on High for 3 minutes; makes about 2 cups rice.
• Green vegetable: Snow peas and red pepper strips with Roasted Garlic Ranch Dressing

Maple-Glazed Salmon

Cook’s Notes: The combination of maple syrup and black pepper is outrageously good. The original recipe noted, “Even people who aren’t big salmon fans love this recipe. The sweet maple coating also makes a lovely brown glaze.” We like that it’s light in oil, as opposed to other salmon marinades, which can be too heavy.

Serve with green beans. Note that the cooking time is fast, but you have to allow 4 hours for the marinade process. Leftover salmon is delicious the next day.

2 salmon fillets (8 oz each)
1/2 cup real maple syrup (not pancake syrup)
1.3 oz low sodium soy sauce (with the maple syrup, it makes a total of 2/3 cup)
2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp olive oil

Pour the maple syrup in a glass measuring cup. Add the soy sauce, black pepper, and olive oil; whisk together. Place salmon in a plastic zip-top bag. Pour marinade in the bag and press the air out. Turn the bag a few times to thoroughly coat the salmon.

Refrigerate at least 4 hours, turning the bag from time to time to keep the salmon coated.

Line a cookie sheet with tin foil and lightly coat with cooking spray. Heat the oven to broil. Remove the salmon from the marinade. Place salmon on prepared cookie sheet. Discard the unused marinade and the zip-top bag.

Cook salmon for about 4 minutes per side until done (flakes with a fork).

Source: Adapted from a Penzey’s recipe submitted by Jill. Make more: If you have 24 to 30 oz salmon fillets, make the marinade with 3/4 cup maple syrup, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1 T olive oil, and 1 T ground black pepper.

Sook and Jimmy: Crab and Rice Wraps

Cook’s Notes: Ready in 45 minutes. Use 1 cup filling in each tortilla. These wraps (burritos) freeze well. Burritos are not required: We have also served Sook and Jimmy rice as a main dish with tossed salad. Yes, this dish is also similar to Dinner Rice Salad with seafood, although you could use diced, cooked chicken or even canned tuna if you don’t have crab on hand.

Rice
2 cups water
1.5 tsp olive oil
3/4 cup white rice — makes 1.5 cups cooked rice

Spinach
2 bags (9 oz each) fresh spinach leaves, washed

Onions
1 cup diced onion
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Mushrooms
2 tsp olive oil
2 boxes (8 oz each) sliced white mushrooms
2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/3 cup medium dry sherry

Crab sauce
8 oz tub garden vegetable cream cheese, softened
2 cans (6 oz each) fancy white crabmeat, drained
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tsp lemon juice
Grated nutmeg

8 sun-dried tomato and basil wraps (or 10-inch or 11-inch tortillas)

Make the rice: Bring 2 cups water and 1.5 tsp olive oil to a boil. Stir in the rice, return to a boil, and cover. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes until the water is absorbed. Put prepared rice in a large bowl.

While the rice cooks, prepare the remaining ingredients as follows:

Coat a nonstick skillet lightly with cooking spray. Cook 1 bag of spinach leaves at a time. Cook spinach over medium heat until wilted, stirring often. Transfer cooked spinach to a colander. Drain well, and press all the water out. Put drained spinach in the bowl with the rice.

Coat the skillet with cooking spray again. Add onions, 1/2 tsp kosher salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper. Cook onions over medium heat until they are tender, 7 to 9 minutes. Put onions in the bowl with the rice and spinach.

Wipe the skillet clean. Add 2 tsp olive oil, sliced mushrooms, minced garlic, 1/2 tsp kosher salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper. Cook mushrooms over medium-high heat until they are evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Add the sherry and cook about 2 more minutes.

Reduce heat to low, add cream cheese to the skillet with the mushrooms. Stir until the cream cheese melts, about 2 to 3 minutes. Stir crabmeat in, stirring to break up lumps. Add Parmesan cheese, lemon juice, and nutmeg to taste. Stir well.

Pour mushroom-crab sauce over the rice, spinach, and onions in the bowl. Stir well to combine ingredients.

Place 1 cup filling on each tortilla and wrap. (If this overstuffs your wraps, reduce the amount of filling in each wrap. Extra filling makes an excellent dish on its own and can be frozen.)
Adapted from Wraps: Easy Recipes for Handheld Meals (Paperback, 1997) by Mary Corpening Barber, Sara Corpening, and Lori Lyn Narlock.

Best Recipe: Shrimp Cocktail

Cook’s Notes: We made these brined and broiled shrimp for a dinner party recently, and they have fabulous flavor. The homemade cocktail sauce is a nice touch, too, not too sweet. Alton Brown is a genius in the kitchen. I’ll never boil shrimp again.

You’ll need 1 lb package frozen jumbo shell-on shrimp (21 to 26), deveined (such as the packages sold at Trader Joe’s). Thaw frozen shrimp according to package directions. Rinse in cool water. Drain well.

Follow the instructions given in Alton Brown, Good Eats, http://www.foodnetwork.com, notes from the “Crustacean Nation” episode

Firecracker Grilled Salmon

8 (4-oz) salmon fillets
1/2 c peanut oil
4 T soy sauce
4 T balsamic vinegar
2 green onions, chopped
3 T brown sugar
1 T garlic, minced
1.5 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp Mild Chili Spice Mix (instead of 2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes)
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp salt

Combine peanut oil to salt in a zip-top plastic bag; add salmon fillets and seal.
Marinate in refrigerator 30 to 45 minutes, turning occasionally. Remove fish from
bag; discard marinade.

Prepare an outdoor grill with coals about 5 inches from the grate, and lightly oil
the grate. Grill the fillets 5 inches from coals for 10 minutes per inch of
thickness, measured at the thickest part, or until fish just flakes with a fork.
Turn over halfway through cooking.

Note: Yields 1.5 c marinade. Could reduce oil (try half the amount of peanut oil
and no sesame oil). Double the marinade recipe for 3.5 lbs salmon.

Awesome glaze! We have made this several times. It is a family favorite.

Author’s note: “Salmon usually does quite well unadorned, but this hot and sassy
marinade makes this grilled salmon even more delicious. With lots of zippy
ingredients, you can’t go wrong.”

Source: Modified from allrecipes.com, submitted by Christine L.