Grilled Tuna & Scallops / Marinated Zucchini

A quick Friday night summer menu:

• Grilled Tuna Kebabs in Shiso Glaze - Gourmet - June 2008
  
• Marinated Zucchini and Snow Peas - Gourmet - June 2008
• Grill Roasted Corn with Albuquerque Butter

Note the links above: Gourmet recipes are available on epicurious.com

This looked so appealing, and ended up being the biggest disappointment of the season for several reasons. First - despite cutting down on the sugar in the shiso glaze, the Tuna was sickly sweet. The marinade called for mayonaise to be whisked in - which not surprisingly broke, so I had little globules of mayo on the fish. And third, my local HEB pushed off some bad Tuna at $16.99 a pound, and I got sick about an hour after eating. Fortunately Ms. Finn and Nora were OK - I am the canary in to coal mine when it comes to food borne bacteria.

Positive #1: I bought a few sea scallops to alternate with the tuna on skewers, and they were better than the tuna, despite getting the same glaze.

Positive #2: Marinated Zucchini were awesome. The marinade from Gourmet was just OK, but the choice of using thinly sliced zucchini is awesome. They're not cooked, so they hold shape and texture, and they stand up better to the marinade than cucumbers. Totally awesome. I made them again a few days later with a simpler pickling liquid (3/4 rice wine vinegar, 1/3 C sugar, pinch of salt, roasted dried red pepper to taste). Even more awesome.

Another negative - snow peas turn grey in an acidic marinate. By the time the dish was served they were already turning, and they were sickly the next day. Poor choice for this dish, Gourmet.

And now you see the first appearance of one of my standbys: Albuquerque Butter. The first version I made from from Sheila Lukins and Julie Rosso's classic cookbook The New Basics. But I've since adapted my own version. While it is good for corn on the cob, it's even better melted onto steak. An all around star of the compound butter world.