Making the Cut (15 page)

5. Spoon remaining dressing evenly over toppings. Garnish salads with reserved watercress sprigs. Add pepper to taste.

NUTRITION PER SERVING

This recipe calls for fresh crab, and I don’t want to see any of you cheating with crab substitutes; fake crabmeat is filled with additives, fillers, and preservatives. And anyway, it doesn’t taste nearly as good!

Louis dressing

¼ cup low-carb ketchup

½ cup low-fat mayonnaise

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon horseradish

Salad

1 large firm-ripe avocado

1/3 to ½ pound cooked Dungeness crab, shelled

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 cups tender salad leaves, rinsed and crisped

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 endive leaves (optional)

2 to 4 tablespoons diced bell pepper (red, yellow, green, or a combination)

1 large hard-boiled egg, shelled

1. For dressing, combine all 4 ingredients in a bowl. Stir and chill.

2. For salad, cut avocado in half lengthwise, then peel and pit. Turn halves cut side down, then cut each half crosswise into thin slices. With a wide spatula, transfer each avocado half to a dinner plate, keeping the slices together. With your fingers, gently pull the slices into a loose S that fills the center of the plate.

3. Mix crab gently with Louis dressing. Add pepper to taste.

4. Mix salad leaves with vinegar, oil, and black pepper to taste.

5. Lay 2 endive leaves parallel at the tip of each avocado. Spoon crab mixture onto the endive, then mound salad leaves onto base of endive. Scatter plates with the diced bell pepper.

6. Mince egg in a food processor, or rub through a fine strainer. Sprinkle over crab salad.

NUTRITION PER SERVING

3 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro

3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

12 ounces lean ground turkey

1 cup minced onion

1½ teaspoons ground cumin

1½ teaspoons ground coriander seeds

¾ teaspoon ground allspice

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 large egg whites

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.

2. Combine cilantro, dill, and parsley in a small bowl. Combine 4½ tablespoons of this herb mixture, turkey, and next 7 ingredients (onion through garlic) in a large bowl. Shape into 46 1-inch meatballs.

3. Spread olive oil over the bottom of a jelly roll pan; arrange meatballs in a single layer, and turn lightly to coat. Bake 15 minutes or until done, turning once. While hot, sprinkle with remaining herbs. Serve hot.

NUTRITION PER SERVING

2 teaspoons chopped garlic

½ cup chopped green onions, including tops

2 tablespoons minced fresh jalapeño chiles

1 teaspoon cumin

2 tablespoons fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 beef flank steak (1½ to 1¾ pounds)

1 large red onion (¾ pound)

2 teaspoons olive oil

8 La Tortilla Factory low-carb tortillas

8 tablespoons low-fat sour cream (optional)

thinly sliced fresh tomatillos (optional)

1. Preheat grill to high.

2. In a blender or food processor, combine garlic, green onions, chiles, cumin, oregano, and vinegar until coarsely puréed.

3. Rinse flank steak and pat dry. Rub garlic mixture over meat.

4. Peel red onion; cut crosswise into ½-inch slices. Rub lightly with olive oil.

5. Heat tortillas until warm.

6. Lay steak and onion slices on a barbecue grill over a solid bed of very hot coals or high heat on a gas grill (you can hold your hand at grill level only 1 to 2 seconds); close lid on gas grill. Cook meat, turning to brown evenly, until as done as desired in center of thickest part (cut to test), 12 to 15 minutes for rare, about 20 minutes for medium rare. Grill onion slices, turning with a wide spatula, until lightly browned on each side, about 13 minutes. Transfer meat and onion to a carving board. Serve hot, warm, or cool.

7. Cut beef across the grain into thin, slanting slices. Lay slices of meat and pieces of red onion on tortillas. Spoon 1 tablespoon sour cream on top of each steak in its tortilla, and add tomatillo slices, if desired.

NUTRITION PER SERVING (WITHOUT LOW-FAT SOUR CREAM)

You can substitute one 9-ounce can solid white tuna in water, drained, for the tuna steak.

1 teaspoon lemon juice

dash of freshly ground black pepper

1 (8-ounce) tuna steak

cooking spray (olive or canola oil)

1 hard-boiled egg white, diced (reserve egg yolk for another use)

¼ cup diced celery

¼ cup raisins

2 tablespoons minced green onions

3 tablespoons fat-free mayonnaise

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

½ (8-ounce) can unsweetened pineapple tidbits, drained

2 (5-inch) whole-wheat pitas, cut in half

1
¹
/
₃
cups torn Bibb lettuce, rinsed and dried

8 (¼-inch-thick) tomato slices

1. Preheat grill or broiler. Sprinkle lemon juice and black pepper over tuna. Place the tuna on a grill or broiler rack coated with cooking spray; cook 4 minutes on each side until tuna is medium rare or reaches desired degree of doneness. Don’t overcook, as tuna dries easily. Coarsely chop tuna.

2. Combine tuna, diced egg white, celery, raisins, green onions, mayonnaise, mustard, and pineapple in a bowl. Line each pita half with 1/3 cup lettuce and 2 tomato slices. Divide the tuna mixture evenly among pita halves.

NUTRITION PER SERVING

¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley

3 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh dill

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon dried oregano

6 cups shredded romaine lettuce

3 cups diced tomato

1 cup thinly sliced red onion

½ cup fat-free crumbled feta cheese

1 cucumber, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and thinly sliced

6 (3-ounce) grilled skinless, boneless chicken breasts

2 cups canned chickpeas, drained

3 whole wheat pitas, toasted and cut into wedges

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; stir with a whisk. Add lettuce and the next 6 ingredients (tomato through chickpeas); toss well. Serve with pita wedges.

NUTRITION PER SERVING