Issue Date: August 24, 2003
Hot-weather remedy: Cool seafood salads
Like a good wardrobe, my cooking style serves me well fall, winter and spring. The basics in my closet don't change much during those seasons, and neither do the basics on my table. Come summer, however, there's a shift in the way I dress and cook. Both styles are lighter, cooler, simpler.
For one thing, I buy more seafood -- salmon and shrimp, for example. When the weather's torrid, there's no pressure to serve seafood hot. I cook it when I want and serve it when I'm ready.
I rely on canned seafood as well. Tuna and pasteurized crabmeat are among my favorites. No further cooking needed here; just open the can, mix in a few other ingredients and serve.
And there are big flavor rewards for so little effort. For my niçoise-style tuna salad, just open three cans: one each of tuna, white beans and sliced olives. Toss these ingredients with slivered red onion, olive oil and lemon juice. Take time, if you like, to boil eggs, or pick them up at the grocery salad bar. Serve the salad with steamed green beans. For an even simpler version, add a little chopped parsley to the salad for color and serve it with salted tomato slices.
A bit more refined, my crab salad with fruity-salsa flavorings, above, is equally simple and appealing. Sliced avocados anchor and enrich this lively, colorful dish. If possible, select lump or backfin crab. The larger the crab chunks, the fewer shell fragments to pick out.
Cucumber salad perfectly accompanies a piece of grilled salmon. Salting and draining the cucumbers first intensifies their flavor and makes the salad less watery. Once the cucumbers have released some of their moisture, pat them dry on paper towels and dress them with sour cream, vinegar and dill. If you're not a dill fan, feel free to substitute basil or parsley, fresh or dried.
Grilled shrimp and Greek flavorings (tomato, feta, Kalamata olives, oregano) commingle in a fourth salad, and shrimp cook in a flash. Thread them onto skewers, and so they'll grill up moist yet attractively spotty brown, sprinkle them with a little sugar when seasoning them with salt and pepper. (Remember sugaring the steaks in June's CookSmart column? It works with shrimp, too.)
So next time you reach for the canned tuna to make a casserole, think salad instead. When it's shorts-and-sandals weather, it's time to cook and eat the same way: light and cool.
Contributing Editor Pam Anderson is the author of CookSmart (Houghton Mifflin, $28).
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Crab & Avocado Salad With Fruit Salsa
1 pound pasteurized crabmeat (preferably lump or backfin), picked over for stray shells
1 1/2 cups mangoes, peaches or nectarines, diced (about 1 1/2 mangoes or 2 large peaches or nectarines)
1/4 medium red onion, cut into small dice
1/4 medium red bell pepper, cored and cut into medium dice
1 Tb. chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
2 Tbs. lime juice (1 large lime)
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 to 3 ripe avocados
Gently mix all ingredients except avocado in a medium bowl. (Can be covered and refrigerated several hours.) When ready to serve, halve, pit, peel and slice avocado. Fan half an avocado on each plate and serve crab salad alongside.
Serves: 6.
Per serving: 282 calories, 20g protein, 14g carbohydrates, 17g fat (2g saturated), 3g fiber, 265mg sodium.
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Niçoise-Style Tuna Salad With White Beans & Olives
3/4 pound green beans, trimmed and snapped in half
1 12-ounce can solid white albacore tuna, drained
1 16-ounce can Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
1 2.25-ounce can sliced black olives, drained
1/4 medium red onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp. dried oregano
6 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tbs. juice and 1/2 tsp. finely grated zest from 1 large lemon
Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
4 large hard-cooked eggs, peeled and quartered
Place green beans, 1/3 cup water and a large pinch of salt in a medium skillet. Cover, turn heat on high, and bring water to boil. Once beans start to steam, set timer and cook until tender-crisp, about 5 minutes. (Because the beans cook in such a small amount of water, make sure not to let the skillet run dry.) Immediately dump them onto a lipped cookie sheet lined with paper towels to cool.
Mix tuna, white beans, olives and onion in a medium bowl. Whisk together oregano, oil, lemon juice and zest in a medium bowl, then pour over the salad and gently stir to combine.
Adjust seasonings to taste. Arrange a portion of green beans, tuna-bean salad and eggs on each of 4 plates.
Serves: 4.
Per serving: 581 calories, 37g protein, 31g carbohydrates, 35g fat (6g saturated), 7g fiber, 535mg sodium.
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Grilled Salmon With Cucumber Salad
2 large cucumbers, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeds scraped out, then thinly sliced
1 tsp. salt
1/4 medium red onion, thinly sliced
6 Tbs. sour cream
1 Tb. red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. dried dill
Ground black pepper
4 4- to 5-ounce salmon fillets
Olive oil
Place cucumbers in a colander and toss with salt; let stand until several tablespoons of liquid has drained, 30 to 45 minutes. Pat dry with paper towels and transfer to a medium bowl. Add onion, sour cream, vinegar, dill and a few grinds of pepper. Toss to coat. (Can be refrigerated several hours ahead.)
Meanwhile, heat gas grill, with all burners on high, until fully preheated, 10 to 15 minutes. Use a wire brush to clean grill rack, then brush lightly with oil. Close lid and let return to temperature. Brush salmon with oil and season with salt and pepper; grill until just opaque, about 3 minutes per side.
Set each warm or room-temperature salmon fillet on a plate; spoon cucumber salad over part of and alongside the fish.
Serves: 4.
Per serving: 363 calories, 27g protein, 6g carbohydrates, 25g fat (6g saturated), 1g fiber, 96mg sodium.
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Greek-Style Shrimp Salad on a Bed of Baby Spinach
1 pound raw shrimp (26 to 30 count), peeled
Olive oil, salt, pepper and sugar, to taste
2 medium tomatoes, cut into medium dice
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup pitted and coarsely chopped Kalamata or other black olives
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 cup olive oil
4 tsps. red wine vinegar
1 10-ounce bag factory-washed baby spinach leaves
Thread shrimp onto metal skewers (or bamboo ones that have been soaked in water for 15 minutes). Brush both sides with oil and season with salt, pepper and a light sprinkling of sugar.
Heat gas grill, with all burners on high, until fully preheated, 10 to 15 minutes. Use a wire brush to clean grill rack, then brush lightly with oil. Close lid and allow to return to temperature. Grill shrimp until fully cooked and spotty brown, about 2 minutes per side.
Meanwhile, mix in a medium bowl the tomatoes, cheese, olives, oregano, 2 Tbs. of the olive oil and 2 tsps. of the vinegar. Unthread shrimp and add to bowl. Lightly toss ingredients to coat. Set aside. (Can be made an hour or so ahead.)
When ready to serve, drizzle remaining oil, as well as a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper, over spinach in a large bowl. Toss to coat. Add remaining 2 tsps. vinegar; toss again. Divide spinach among 4 large plates. Top with a portion of the shrimp mixture.
Serves: 4.
Per serving: 419 calories, 23g protein, 15g carbohydrates, 30g fat (6g saturated), 5g fiber, 767mg sodium.
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