Jan D'Atri

Jan D'Atri > fresh ginger, minced

fresh ginger, minced

Shrimp Burger Sliders with Curry Aioli and Slaw

by

Old recipes like the ones featured in this column each week would slowly fade away if not for a new generation of home cooks. So when I heard about C-CAP, the Careers through Culinary Arts Program in Arizona, and when I tasted the award-winning recipe at their competition this year, I had to share both the program and the dish with you. C-Cap is a non-profit organization founded in 1990 by well-known culinary educator and author Richard Grausman to teach youth about the satisfaction and value of home cooking. C-CAP works with public schools in Arizona and across the country to prepare underserved high school students for college and career opportunities in the restaurant and hospitality industry. So far, C-CAP has awarded students more than $37 million in scholarships and donated $2.8 million worth of supplies and equipment to classrooms. At C-CAP’s Heavy Metal Culinary Competition in years past, the students brought back a past winner, T-Cook’s at the Royal Palms Executive Chef Lee Hillson to defend his title. Indeed he did, winning again with his Shrimp Burger Sliders with Curry Aioli and Slaw. Chef Hillson’s advice to students this year was “to have a little fun! Make food and cooking exciting and different. Think of foods you like and model a dish on them.” Thank you Chef, for doing all of the above with your sensational Shrimp Burger Sliders!

For more info about C-CAP, visit www.ccapinc.org.

Over the Rainbow Cubed Ahi Tuna Salad

by

There is the classic Salade Nicoise with its lovely composition of tuna, tomatoes, sliced eggs, olives, potatoes, haricots verts and anchovies–or variations thereof. The tuna is generally canned, and there is very little in the way of lettuce leaves. Then, there is the more updated trend, the Ahi Tuna Salad, with its delicate strips of seared fresh ahi tuna, arranged in overlapping slices and serve on a bed of lettuce often with a wasabi-soy- mustard drizzle or a honey ginger vinaigrette. Combine the best of both salads, add a rainbow of color and crunch, and you have a hearty, healthful main meal dish with the unusual twist of fresh tuna served, not in slices, but rather in cubes to get the sear on all sides. If your New Year’s resolution is to eat healthy and somewhat preservative-free, the Over The Rainbow Cubed Ahi Tuna Salad is your creative and crunchy kick starter in a salad bowl!