Seafood

I’m a huge fan of raw tuna. The trick is to get high-quality tuna—called “sushi grade.” If you don’t want to eat raw tuna, you can sear it whole in a hot pan until it’s cooked to your liking, then slice and serve it with the sauce and the mushroom salad. Textured vegetable protein can be found in the health-food aisle of most major supermarkets.

Oysters Rockefeller was created in New Orleans at the turn of the last century. It was named for John D. Rockefeller, the richest man in America at the time, because he and the dish had something in common. If you don’t overcook them, oysters are juicy and creamy and taste luxuriously rich. Without changing too much from the classic recipe (aside from reducing the loads of butter), the fat content went from 22 grams to just under 6 grams—with most of that coming from the oysters themselves. This dish is a fabulous throwback that won’t set you back. Oysters Rockefeller are baked in piles of coarse salt not just to anchor the liquid in the oyster shell but also because salt is an excellent conductor of heat.

At almost 1,200 calories and 33 grams of fat (for an appetizer!), the original version of this favorite starter is incredibly naughty—and, admittedly, incredibly tasty. With apologies to Monty Python, these coconut shrimp have lost their naughty bits but are none the worse for having done so.

Most crab cakes are made of breadcrumbs and crab-flavored mayonnaise. And while I agree that mayonnaise is damn good, I just wish it wasn’t so fattening. By broiling instead of pan frying, and using low-fat mayo with some green veggies, this very lean version of crab cakes is a new kind of good.

Fried calamari and tomato sauce is one of the great food combinations. Fried calamari is sweet and crispy, and tomato sauce is slightly acidic—that’s a culinary trifecta! Without the fat and calories of the original, you get to eat a lot of this. Use as a spicy fra diavolo pasta sauce as you can handle—the heat will make the dish feel bigger and richer.

A hollowed-out mushroom cap makes an ideal little edible bowl, perfect for filling with cream cheese and bacon, creamed spinach and ham, Italian sausage and cheese, or crabmeat. These—made with fresh crab, a little bit of low-fat mayo, and real bacon—are a real caloric bargain. A single serving (4 large mushrooms) nets you only 4 grams of fat and just under 120 calories.

When you are too exhausted to move, this simple supper stands you back up. Actually, it makes a nice Sunday brunch or late-night snack as well and can easily be adjusted to feed from one to some.