For Christmas we often cook lobster tails with a side of stuffed crab. How we both adore seafood and have really missed the quality seafood we had access to when we lived on the Texas Gulf Coast where we lived for over 30 years. This is the crab stuffing recipe I’ve made for such a long time. I developed this recipe in an attempt to imitate the wonderful stuffed crab I ordered many times at Gaido’s seafood restaurant, perched on the Galveston Seawall for a lovely view of the Gulf. We lived there for around 30 years, so the good seafood seriously spoiled. This was one of my favorite dishes on the menu. As delicious as any I ever ate in New England where crab cakes are almost a religion. My take on it is fairly close to Gaido’s dish, so I have stuck with this recipe whenever I can get decent crabmeat. The crab sold in groceries in Central TX where I live is all trucked up from the Gulf, often frozen for lord knows how long, so really not as good.
This dish is easy to prepare and always a hit with dinner guests. I used to serve mine in real sea scallop shell halves so it made for an impactful presentation. If you have access to fresh, picked crab meat where you are, you’ve GOT to try this one! I also use this mixture to stuff baked flounder or even stuffed mushrooms! It also can be shaped into patties, fried in a buttered skillet for delicious crab cakes, to be served with a tarragon aioli sauce.
INGREDIENTS:
1½ lb. Blue crab meat, shelled & picked well for shell bits (or other variety crabmeat)
3 Flax Sandwich Buns (or other low-carb bread)
4 oz. onion, finely chopped
4 oz. celery, finely chopped
2 oz. green/red bell pepper (your choice), finely chopped
¼ cup parsley, chopped
2 oz. heavy cream
¼ tsp. salt
Dash of cayenne pepper
1 tsp. dry mustard powder
½ c. (1 stick) unsalted butter
DIRECTIONS: Using a large bowl, carefully pick out all bits of shell from crab meat. Soak 2 of the pieces of bread with the cream and crumble over the crab. Crumb the remaining roll into fairly fine crumbs. Set aside.
Melt butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Add celery, onion, bell pepper, salt and cayenne and sauté until slightly tender. Add parsley, mustard powder and sauté couple minutes longer. Pour sautéed vegetable mixture over crab/bread mixture in the bowl. Gently toss ingredients gently just to mix well. Spoon mixture into 6 large rinsed crab/scallop shells (if you have any) or into 6 buttered individual 6 oven-safe ramekins. Alternately, you can stuff into whole fish like flounder or trout on an oiled pan that have been prepared for stuffing. You can optionally top stuffing with panko bread crumbs if that’s your fancy. Bake in preheated 350º oven for 20 minutes for just baked crabmeat; 30 minutes for whole 1 lb. fish stuffed. Check with a fork to be sure fish is at flaky stage before removing from oven and serving with a nice green salad.
NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 6 servings, each serving has: (numbers are just for stuffing & does not include fish)
351.3 cals, 25.9g fat, 5.4g carbs, 2.47g fiber, 2.93g NET CARBS, 25.3g protein, 120 mg. sodium
Buttoni's Low-Carb Recipes 