Simple & Delicious for Holiday Entertaining Tuna with Roasted Lemons

This busy time of year, a dead-simple recipe comes in handy, whether you want to make a special meal just for family, or you need to impress company without much fuss. This recipe, from my book 1,000 Diabetes Recipes (Wiley, 2011), is a healthy, quick, and flavorful meal that’s ready in about 40 minutes start to finish. The lemons take about half an hour to roast, so while those are in the oven, make some whole wheat couscous or steam some baby potatoes and toss a big green salad to serve alongside and dinner’s done.

If you want to have a secret ingredient on hand to enliven another holiday dish, make extra roasted lemon slices when you prepare this recipe. If you love the tart flavor of lemons, you may find these addictive. You can chop them up and add them to a salad dressing, a creamy dip, or even potato salad.

Tuna with Roasted Lemons

Makes 4 servings

2 medium lemons, cut into 1/4-inch slices, and seeded

4 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil, divided

4 (5-ounce) tuna steaks

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Brush the lemon slices with 2 teaspoons of the oil and arrange in a single layer in the baking pan. Bake until lightly browned, 25 to 30 minutes.

2. Sprinkle the tuna with the salt and pepper. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the remaining 2 teaspoons oil and tilt the pan to coat the bottom evenly. Add the tuna and cook, turning once, 2 minutes on each side for medium rare, or to the desired degree of doneness. Place the tuna on 4 plates. Divide the roasted lemons evenly among the plates and serve at once.

Each serving: 3 g carbohydrate, 197 calories, 6 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 62 mg cholesterol, 1 g fiber, 32 g protein, 193 mg sodium

Carb Choices: 0; Exchanges: 4 lean protein, 1 fat

Photo: Veer

Grilled Prosciutto Shrimp with Asian Dipping Sauce

This is my first post that's part of a brand new network of dietitans who believe flavor comes first. We call ourselves the Recipe Redux and every month we'll be creating recipes on a single theme and linking to each others' blog posts. Check out all the links at the bottom of this recipe for more great-tasting, good-for-you summer grilling ideas.

I love kebabs. They make any meal look like you went to more trouble than you did. There’s something about putting food on a skewer that elevates it to a special occasion (even a marshmallow on twig!).

These kebabs are extra nice because the large shrimp are each wrapped in a little strip of salty prosciutto and then they’re alternated on the skewers with sweet peaches. The marinade and dipping sauce is a sweet/salty/spicy Asian-inspired mixture made from ordinary pantry ingredients. I call for peaches or nectarines in the recipe, but you could also use cubes of cantaloupe, honeydew, mango, or pineapple.

When you shop, look for wild or farmed shrimp from the United States. They may be a little more pricey than the imported ones, but most shrimp imported from other countries are farmed with lenient environmental regulations.

While you’re grilling the kebabs, throw some quick-cooking veggies on the grill to serve with them. Sliced yellow squash, zucchini, bell peppers or small whole mushrooms are all good low-carb options. This is an easy, delicious meal that lets you do what people were meant to do this time of year: sit back and enjoy summer.

Grilled Prosciutto Shrimp with Asian Dipping Sauce

Makes 4 servings

1 pound large peeled and deveined shrimp (about 24 shrimp)

2 ounces prosciutto, cut into 24 thin strips

4 small peaches or nectarines, pitted and cut into wedges  

3 tablespoons orange juice or unsweetened apple juice

1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce

1 tablespoon molasses

1 teaspoon canola oil

1 clove garlic, crushed through a garlic press

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Wrap each shrimp with a strip of prosciutto. Thread the shrimp and peaches alternately onto 8 (6-8 inch) metal skewers and place in a large shallow dish.

Stir together the orange juice, soy sauce, molasses, oil, garlic, and cayenne in a small bowl. Drizzle the skewers with 2 tablespoons of the orange juice mixture and let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. Set aside the remaining orange juice mixture to serve as a dipping sauce with the shrimp.

Preheat a grill to medium heat. Place the skewers on the grill and grill until the shrimp are opaque, 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Transfer the skewers to a serving platter and serve the remaining sauce on the side.

Each serving: 18 g carbohydrate, 216 calories, 5 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 183 mg cholesterol, 2 g fiber, 27 g protein, 777 mg sodium

Carb Choices: 1; Exchanges: 1 fruit, 3 lean protein

Here is a list of the grilling creations of my fellow registered dietitian Recipe Reduxers:
Alexandra Caspero
Grilled Summer Fruit Salad
Alysa Bajenaru – Inspired RD
Grilled Romaine Salad
Cindy Brison
Nutrition Know How
Chef Pandita
Grilled Vegetables
Danielle Omar – Food Confidence
Grilled Sweet Peppers
Diane Welland – EatWellEatClean
Grilled Beet & Onion Salad with Goat Cheese
The Nutrition Budgeteer
Dr Barb’s Grilled Corn and Tomato Salad
EA Stewart – The Spicy RD
Grilled Polenta Veggie Stacks with Balsamic Cherry Tomatoes
Emma Stirling – The Scoop on Nutrition
Char Siu BBQ Pork
Gretchen – Kumquat
Grilled Tandoori Chicken Skewers
Jessica Fishman Levinson – Nutritioulicious
Grilled Salmon Burgers with Cherry Chutney
Kat Lynch – Eating The Week
Portobello mushrooms stuffed with spiced couscous
Katie Caputo- East Meats West
Succulent Sirloin Kabobs
Kristen – Swanky Dietitian
Portabella Mushroom Burgers with Grilled Corn
Lisa – Healthful Sense
Grilled Veggie Bean Burgers
Liz Weiss and Janice Newell Bissex – Meal Makeover Moms’ Kitchen
Mushroom Burgers with the Works, Mushroom Cannellini Spread
Marie Spano
Italian Grilled Turkey Burgers
Nicole Ferring Holovach – Whole Health RD
Grilled Eggs
Rebecca Scritchfield – MeFirst
Grilled Plantains: A Sweet Summer Side Dish
Regan – The Professional Palate
Grilled Eggplant & Two-Tomato Whole-Wheat Piadina
Serena – Teaspoon of Spice
Grilled Watermelon Salad

Lemon Vinaigrette to Eat with Everything

I’ve been emailing with a friend today discussing whether people actually still cook or not. I don’t think I’m a good judge of whether people do or do not cook. I am so consumed every day with cooking for myself and convincing other people to cook through this blog and my recipe development projects that I just assume everyone starts with fresh ingredients and makes themselves a healthful and delicious dinner every night. Don’t they?

According to my friend, people don’t have time to cook. They buy pre-fab food at Costco, eat fast food, or get food delivered. I say: You’re killing yourself if you’re not cooking. Especially when it’s so easy and so delicious!

Yesterday I made this wonderful lemon vinaigrette that takes about 5 minutes to make and is perfect to drizzle on almost anything. It’s made by simply pureeing the lemon segments—which give it potent lemon flavor—and then whisking in some olive oil. I had it with a pan seared fish that took about 3 minutes to make, but use it for grilled or baked salmon, chicken, shrimp, scallops, or on green salad, pasta salad, roasted vegetables…it’s good on almost anything. You can make a double batch and refrigerate it for up to a week.

Recipes like this one that you can make ahead and serve with a lot of different foods will inspire you to cook every day. When food is this simple and this good, I am baffled as to why people don’t want to cook.

Lemon Vinaigrette

Makes generous 1/4 cup

1 medium lemon, well scrubbed

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Pinch of freshly ground pepper

Grate the zest from the lemon and transfer the zest to a small bowl. Use a sharp knife to cut away the peel and the white pith.

Holding the lemon over another small bowl, carefully cut along both sides of each section to free them from the membrane and let the sections fall into the bowl. Squeeze the juice from the membrane into the bowl and then remove any seeds from the sections. Transfer the sections and the juice to a blender. Add the sugar and salt and puree until smooth.

Transfer the puree to the bowl with the zest. Slowly whisk in the olive oil, then whisk in the pepper.

Each serving (generous 1 tablespoon): 3 g carbohydrate, 73 calories, 7 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein, 70 mg sodium

Carb Choices: None; Exchanges: 1 1/2 fat