Crab Linguine

Even without fresh ingredients, this was quite yummy. Definitely plan on making it again :)

Crab Linguine (with lemon & basil)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. pasta, such as linguine or spaghetti
•  1/3 cup olive oil
•  2 tbsp. butter
•  6 cloves garlic, minced
•  ½ cup fresh basil, chopped
•  1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
•  Salt and pepper, to taste
•  8 oz. fresh crab meat, cooked (or substitute pre-cooked shrimp/prawns)
•  1 lemon, quartered

Directions:

1. Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling water until al dente.  Drain well; set aside.  
2. In a large skillet over medium heat, combine the olive oil and butter, heating until the butter is completely melted.  
3. Add the garlic to the pan and cook for 30 seconds, just until fragrant and bubbling.  Remove the pan from the heat.
4. Add the drained pasta to the skillet and toss well until the pasta is well coated with the garlic-oil sauce.  
5. Add the basil and cherry tomatoes, and season with salt and pepper to taste.  
6. Divide the pasta between warmed serving bowls.  
7. Top each individual serving with the fresh lump crab meat, about 2 ounces each.  
8. Squeeze one quarter of lemon over each serving.  
9. Serve immediately.

My Changes:

1. I used more butter, because I ran out of olive oil.  I personally don't think the amounts above would have been enough, we tend to dislike dry pastas in this house.
2. I ended up only using about 1/2-2/3 of the pasta (see above, with the dryness issue).
3. Instead of fresh basil, I used dried with some Italian seasoning.
4.  I used pre-cooked crab (it's March in a landlocked state, so sue me) and added it to the butter/garlic/basil/tomato sauce to give it some extra flavor- HIGHLY recommend doing this.
5.  Rather than doing everything per serving, I added the sauce to the pasta and stirred it all together.  Just simpler. 

Shrimp & Rice Tortilla with Lime Vinaigrette

The recipe for the Shrimp & Lime Vinaigrette is linked below.  I thought it sounded yummy, but the husband didn't think it sounded like enough to make a meal by itself (it's ridiculously hot here and we have no A/C, so I'm trying to keep my cooking minimal.  I make no apologies).  So I decided to add rice & stick it in a tortilla. 

 

Shrimp Salad with Lime Vinaigrette

Ingredients

• 1 pound large cooked shrimp
• 1 avocado, in large dice
• 1 cup fresh or canned corn
• ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tablespoons chopped red onion
• ½ cup fresh lime juice
• ¼ cup honey
• 1 garlic clove, pressed or chopped
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 cup rice (uncooked)

Directions

1. Combine the shrimp, avocado, corn, cilantro and onion in a large bowl.
2. In a small bowl, combine the lime juice, honey, garlic clove, salt, pepper and olive oil and whisk until well combined.
3. Pour the vinaigrette over the salad (tasting as you go) and gently toss to combine.  
4. Cover and chill for at least an hour before serving.  
5. Cook rice.
6. Once the shrimp salad is chilled, combine rice & salad into tortilla.
7. Enjoy!

My Changes

• I only used about 1/2 of the vinaigrette when originally mixing with the salad.  However, once I added the rice I thought it could have used more.  In the future I will most likely go ahead & mix in the rice, salad, & vinaigrette all at once.
• Personally, I found the vinagrette a little too sweet.  I had to hand squeeze my limes (MUST buy a juicer ASAP) so I was a little shy of 1/2 cup...but barely.  I personally think the honey could have been cut down (maybe only 1/8 cup).  I also only used about 1/4 of a red onion, and I'll definitely be increasing that next time.
• Oh, I used almost 1/2 cup fresh cilantro.  It was amazing (my grocery store has been out of fresh & I've been making do with dried...it's okay but fresh is soooo much better).
• The original recipe (linked) mentioned something about not letting it chill overnight.  I did, because my husband & I didn't finish it all and we believe in leftovers.  It was fine.
• I think bell peppers would be an awesome addition to this recipe and may add that in next time.  This recipe is pretty easy to customize honestly- the husband added sweet peas to his portion (yuck) as well as sour cream. 

Shrimp Liguine with Garlic Bread Crumbs

Linguine with Garlic Bread Crumbs

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup bread crumbs
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 6 garlic cloves mixed
• 8 oz linguine noodles
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 bag pre-cooked shrimp

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 250°. 
2. Heat 1.5 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat.
3. Stir in breadcrumbs and cook 6 minutes or until toasted brown.
4. Cook/thaw shrimp according to directions. 
5. Cook pasta according to directions.  Drain and place in a large mixing bowl.
6. Add shrimp, 1.15 tablespoons oil, lemon juice, breadcrumbs, parsley, salt, & pepper. 
7. Mix well & serve.

My Changes

• This was really, really dry for me.  I added several more tablespoons of olive oil and used an entire fresh lemon.  Still not enough for me.  I'm not sure exactly what it would take to fix it...I tried adding a bit of butter to the leftovers the next day but it still wasn't exactly right.  Maybe if I used butter instead of olive oil originally it would have worked better.
• The original recipe (linked in the title) called for making your own breadcrumbs...maybe that would have helped this.  I don't know, I just used prepared because it's what I had.

Garlic Lemon Tuna Burgers

Ingredients

• 2 cans tuna fish (drained)
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley/Italian seasoning (I dislike parsley alone)
• 2 cloves garlic (mince)
• 1/4 teaspoon each, salt and pepper 
• juice of half a lemon
• 3 tablespoons sour cream
• 1 egg
• 4 English muffin
• 4 leaves romaine
• 1 tomato

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Mix tuna, bread crumbs, green onions, parsley/Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, lemon, sour cream, and egg.  Mix well with hands.
3. Form into 4 wet patties.
4. Place on greased baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes.
5. Serve on toasted English muffins with lettuce & tomato, extra sour cream if desired.

My Changes

• This was a tad bit mushy in the middle for me, so I would probably add at least 5 minutes to the cooking time...maybe 10.  Just depends.
  
• Horseradish mustard made this amazing.  I may add it to the mixture itself next time instead of just spreading it on the English muffins.