Thursday, July 2, 2009

Coconut Crab and Shrimp Salad


A wonderful light summer lunch or dinner. Serve with toasted pita triangles if you like. (Lightly spritz both sides with cooking spray, sprinkle evenly with a combo of sea salt, ground cumin, garlic powder...maybe a touch of cayenne, and bake for about 5 min at 450 or until lightly browned). We skipped them tonight, cause you know...the whole turning on the oven thing. Not gonna happen.

Coconut Crab and Shrimp Salad:
(Cooking Light)

Cooking spray
1/2 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (I just bought cooked shrimp at the fish counter and saved some work...who wants to turn on the stove when it's 105 out??)
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels, thawed (about 2 ears)
1/3 cup finely chopped red onion
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/3 cup diced peeled avocado
1/2 pound lump crab meat, drained and shell pieces removed
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and chopped
3+ tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 cups torn Boston bibb lettuce (I usually just keep the leaves whole, like flower petals with seafood mounded in the center )
1/4 cup flaked sweetened coconut, toasted

Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add shrimp and 1/4 teaspoon salt; cook 4 minutes or until shrimp are done, turning once. Remove from the pan. Coarsely chop shrimp. Or just skip to the chopping part if you've bought the pre-cooked shrimpies. :-)

Combine corn and the next 5 ingredients (through jalapeño) in a medium bowl. Gently stir in the shrimp. Combine juice, oil, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle juice mixture over shrimp mixture; toss gently to coat. Divide lettuce among each of 4 plates (I drizzle lemon juice over the leaves after arranging them on the plate); top with shrimp mixture. Sprinkle evenly with toasted coconut.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 1/2 cups lettuce, about 1 cup salad, and 1 tablespoon coconut)

CALORIES 223 (34% from fat); FAT 8.5g (sat 2.2g,mono 3.6g,poly 1.3g); IRON 3mg; CHOLESTEROL 124mg; CALCIUM 94mg; CARBOHYDRATE 16g; SODIUM 613mg; PROTEIN 24g; FIBER 3g