8 Amazing Seafood Dishes and Appetizers

Preheat grill to medium (about 400 degrees). In a bowl, combine vegetables and pesto and stir until well coated. Divide vegetable mixture between 4 large sheets of foil. Top each pile of veggies with a piece of tilapia. Add a slice of lemon and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Fold sides of foil up to meet in the middle and fold closed, then fold in sides to seal foil packets. Add foil packets to grill and cook for approximately 10 minutes. Tilapia is done when it is white instead of translucent and flakes easily with a fork. Drain excess liquid from packets before serving.

Soak wooden skewers for 30 minutes (if using metal skewers, you can skip this step). In a small bowl, mix honey, soy sauce, garlic and red pepper. Put half of the marinade in a large plastic baggie and set other half of marinade aside.

Place shrimp in baggie with half of marinade; refrigerate for 15 minutes. Preheat grill to medium-high heat while shrimp is marinating. After skewers have soaked, thread 5-6 shrimp on each.

Grill skewers over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Flip, brush remaining marinade on the shrimp and cook for 1-2 minutes.

In a small bowl combine the sauce ingredients. Rinse and pat dry the salmon. Let the salmon come to room temperature, about 15 minutes. Apply sauce liberally to both sides of the salmon.

Set the grill at 400°.  When the grill reaches temperature lay the salmon with the sauced side (skin) down on the grill. Brush the exposed side of the salmon with sauce and continue basting with sauce while cooking.

Cook for 4 – 5 minutes per side until the salmon flakes easily with a fork.

Pick through crabmeat to ensure there are no shells. Mix together all ingredients except crabmeat and saltines until base comes together. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in crabmeat, trying not to break up the lumps. Once crabmeat is homogenous with the mayonnaise base, sprinkle in saltines and again fold together. Allow mixture to rest in a refrigerator for about an hour until cold. Using a 2-ounce ice cream scoop, scoop out crab cakes onto a parchment- or Silpat-lined sheet tray.

To Bake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Place cakes in the oven, and cook until golden brown on the outside but just warmed in the middle, about 10 minutes.

To Fry: Prepare a breading station by placing all-purpose flour in one bowl, whisked whole eggs in the second bowl and panko breadcrumbs in the third bowl. Roll 2-ounce crab cakes into balls, and then bread each cake by dredging first in the flour, followed by the egg wash, and finally in the panko bread crumbs. Fry the crab cakes at 350°F until golden brown but just warmed in the middle, about 3 minutes.

To Make Tartar Sauce: Using a mixing bowl and rubber spatula, mix the ingredients together and set aside. Can be made a day ahead of time.

To make the remoulade sauce, place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until use.

For the blackening spice blend, combine all ingredients and reserve.

Prepare an outdoor grill for direct grilling over a hot fire. Preheat a cast iron griddle or large skillet in the hot zone.

Place the cold tuna, cold shrimp and olive oil in a food processor. Process until the mixture can be formed into patties but is still chunky. Form into 4 equal patties and cover both sides with the blackening spice blend.

Add the safflower oil to the hot griddle. Use caution, as you may easily be past the flash point temperature of the oil. (If the oil does ignite, you may proceed with cooking—we are blackening after all—just be careful not to burn yourself. As always when grilling, make sure you are not wearing loose-fitting clothing. Quickly add the patties. Cook, flipping once, until done. These patties need to be fully cooked because of the shrimp.

Spread a little remoulade onto each sliced baguette. Cut each patty in half and add to the baguettes along with some cabbage and tomato slices. Drizzle a little more remoulade over the cabbage and serve.

In a large bowl, toss salmon and cracker crumbs; set aside. In heavy skillet, cook onion and red bell pepper in olive oil until tender. Add to bowl and mix gently. Add dill weed, egg and lemon juice, and mix gently. Form into four patties. Add more olive oil to the same skillet. Add patties to skillet when hot. Cook patties for 3 to 4 minutes on each side until golden brown. Assemble slider and add your favorite condiments.

In a small bowl, combine the paprika, cumin, pepper, salt, onion powder, and cayenne pepper to make a rub. Reserve 1 tablespoon for mop. Coat catfish filets with rub. Lay filets flat in a large pan, cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

Load wood tray with one small handful of wood chips; preheat smoker to 180°F.

In a medium bowl, whisk the stock, juices, oil, and reserved rub.

Smoke the catfish on the top rack of the smoker at 180°F for 1 to 1½ hours. Apply marinade with the mop every 20 minutes. The catfish is done when it is flaky and white on the inside.

Rinse shrimp in cold water and pat dry with paper towels.

Set up 3 shallow bowls. In the first, stir together 1/4 cup flour, 1/2 tsp garlic powder and 1/2 tsp salt. In the second, add eggs and beat with a fork. In the third, combine 1 1/2 cups coconut flakes and 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs.

Dredge shrimp in flour then dip in beaten egg and then finally dip in crumb mixture using your hands to press the coconut crumb mixture onto your shrimp. Transfer to a Reynolds parchment paper lined baking sheet and repeat with remaining shrimp.

Place a large non-stick pan over medium heat and add enough oil to generously cover the bottom. Once oil is hot, add shrimp and sauté 2-3 minutes, flip and sauté another 2 minutes until golden brown on both sides and shrimp is firm and pink then remove to a paper towel lined plate. Cook in batches and don’t overcrowd the pan.

For the Dipping Sauce: Stir together 1/4 cup sweet chili sauce with 1/4 cup apricot preserves. Serve with coconut shrimp.