Tuna with Corn Cucumber Mint Relish

As my husband noted, this recipe was very summery. Too bad, the weather had taken a cold turn and it was 40 degrees and rainy outside. Ahhh Virginia weather, I give up!


1-2 lbs tuna (4 tuna steaks)
1 cucumber chopped
½ red pepper chopped
½ c. corn
¼ onion chopped
1 tbs mint chopped
¼ c. rice wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
Pinch of red pepper

Mix together and set aside for an hour. The longer the better though.

For the tuna, I seasoned it with salt and pepper and rubbed it with a bit of cut garlic. I heated about 2 tbs of olive oil and got it nice and hot. Then I laid the steak on and let it cook for about a minute on each side. At that point turn the heat down to medium and continue to cook for about 2 minutes each side (give or take on thickness and how done you like them).

Shrimp and Feta

Okay… eventually I did have to stop drinking and start cooking again! Tonight we are having filets form Bon Air butcher. I am excited!!!! Keep you posted.

6 plum tomatoes
1 Tbs minced garlic
¼ onion chopped
1 Tbs chopped oregano
1 C. white wine
Salt and pepper
1 lb shrimp
½ c. feta
½ lemon
Add the first 6 ingredients to pan and simmer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile heat oven to 400. Put ½ the sauce in the bottom of a small baking dish. Add shrimp and feta, and cover with remainder of sauce. Cook for 10 minutes or until shrimp are pink. Remove from oven and squeeze lemon over. Serve.
You can serve this over rice or pasta for a meal or with bread as an appetizer.

The Worlds Best Crab Cakes

This is not something I made up, but we had them last night and honestly, there is no better. I have to tell you nothing irritates me more than when someone takes some wonderful crab and messes it all up by putting a bunch of bread and stuff in so that then end product tastes more of mustard and bread than anything else. I get that crab is expensive and you want to stretch it, but on the flip side it is expensive and you want to enjoy it. So ditch the fillers and try this, with just enough to hold it together but not so much to mess up the wonderfulness of the crab. ***Also, for a crab cake there is no reason you can not use back fin crab as opposed to lump and save yourself some change. However pick through the crab first to make sure you get any bits of shell out.

2 slices of bread
½ c. milk
1 lb crab meat
1 tbs Worcestershire
1 tbs baking powder
1 tbs mayo
1egg
1 tsp old bay

Set bread in milk and let set for 10 minutes. Squeeze out excessmilk from bread, and toss milk. Place bread back in bowl and add all other ingredients and mix thoroughly. Form into patties and fry until golden on both sides.

Good Guacamole

Okay it goes without saying, I did NOT invent guacamole. I just think mine is pretty good.

2 ripe avocados
1 TBS lemon juice
¼ Herdez Salsa (or your favorite)
1tsp (or to taste) Greek seasoning. I know it is odd, but it is a good all purpose. If you don’t have Greek seasoning use fajita, otherwise salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Peel and pit avocado, and add lemon juice and salsa. With a fork mash together. Add seasoning to taste.

Great Guacamole

If you have time this is really good “fancied up” version of an old standard.

Peel and devain about 15 small shrimp. Cut into small pieces. Add, lime juice to cover, garlic, salt and pepper. Let sit for 3 hours or overnight. The lime juice should cook the shrimp. It should be pink. However for those week at heart, zap it in the microwave for a minute stirring once. Make the above recipe with the addition of the shrimp and about ¼ c. chopped cilantro.


P.S. if you save the pit and throw it into the guacamole when you are done preparing it keeps the avocado from turning brown.