Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Modified Tuna Boats Not The Best Idea


Zucchini Boats with Tuna

Coming home, I learned something new about my father. He doesn't really like tuna. After spending the unusually steamy May day job hunting, steaming hot food was the last thing I wanted to eat. So I set my eyes on making a macaroni salad, something I eat far too much of when I'm at school. The one I eat at school is elbow macaroni, roasted red peppers, parsley, and chunks of creamy smoked gouda and salami in a balsamic dressing. But I wanted to do something different, and after a failed brainstorming session with myself and some browsing, I came across something delicious looking on Simply Recipes A tuna macaroni salad that looked tasty and for which I had half the ingredients. I quickly texted my parents to make sure they were okay with the idea, and I got a quick, and brief, response from my dad: "No."

Since I like to make people happy, the macaroni salad was out of the question. And with that, my mind switched from being set on eating macaroni salad to having canned tuna for dinner. And my favorite recipe using a can (or two) of tuna would have to be these simple zucchini boats I've made quite a few times over the past four years. But this time, I decided to mix it up. Instead of basic and oven-roasted tomatoes, I decided to go with roasted red pepper and a jalapeno mayonnaise. Gorgeous tiny zucchini was just 69 cents a pound at the store, and I probably did not take advantage of that as I should have. With all my ingredients in my basket, I headed home and started prep on dinner.

Roasted Red Pepper
After a failed attempt at roasting a red pepper (it kind of worked, my hand cramped up from holding the tongs before it had cooked long enough) and discovering that our mayonnaise had expired a few months ago after pureeing the jalapeno pepper in it, I made some quick swaps (some questionable greek yogurt and a generous dose of ancho chili powder and a dash of cayenne) that probably decreased the tastiness and increased the safety. But it worked, it was just... different. And not as good as usual, which is quite tasty.

So I'm not adding this variation to my list of things I've succesfully made. However, when Dad isn't around, I'll still make these zucchini boats.