Baked Stuffed Fish
This updated Fannie Farmer recipe for baked stuffed fish is so simple! We enhanced the cracker stuffing with crabmeat, herbs, and lemon.
By Yankee Magazine|May 16 2022|
Coffee By Design | Portland, Maine
Photo Credit : Katherine KeenanIn the early editions of her book, Fannie Farmer presented a whole haddock larded with pork fat and stuffed with a mixture of cracker crumbs and breadcrumbs, butter, salt, pepper, “a few drops onion juice,” and chopped pickles. We offer a much simpler recipe for baked stuffed fish. It’s stuffed with crackers, yes, but also crabmeat, herbs, and lemon.
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Yield:
4 servingsIngredients
1 cup plus 1/2 cup crumbled saltine crackers (about 1 sleeve of crackers, total)
6 ounces fresh lump crabmeat
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh chives
1 small lemon (zest plus 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice)
Pinch cayenne pepper
4 skinless sole fillets or other thin, mild white fish, such as flounder
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan
Lemon wedges, for serving
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350° and set a rack to the middle position.
Lightly grease an 8-inch-square baking pan.
In a medium-size bowl, combine 1 cup of the crackers with the crabmeat, mayonnaise, parsley, chives, lemon zest, lemon juice, and cayenne.
Lay the fish fillets, dark side up, on a work surface. Divide the filling evenly among the fillets, spooning it in the center of the fish. Roll the ends up around the filling. Place the fish, seam side down, in the prepared baking pan.
Toss the remaining ½ cup of the crackers with the melted butter, and sprinkle over the fillets.
Bake until the fish is opaque and cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes.
Serve immediately with lemon wedges.
You lost me on how you’re preparing the fillets but my mouth is still watering…
I would like to know the nutritional value of the meal, especially the carbs.
I’m looking for a recipe for Baked Stuffed Shrimp like the entree once served at the Commodore restaurant in Beverly, Mass. Hard to find good seafood recipes down here in Florida!
There is plenty of seafood in FL; it’s surrounded by ocean. The Gulf pink shrimp are one excellent example…
Silly NEToday – they need recipes NOT where to find the seafood – need those recipes for the seafood they have already down there in FL.
You could buy a cookbook. Also, there are hundreds of recipes on line addressing all types of diets.
Please, please give us the nutritional value of the stuffed fish. As a senior with diabetes and high blood pressure, I’d love to make this but am terrified of what it would do to me. Also what substitutes I need to make – and only making 2 servings.
I absolutely hate mayonnaise … smell, taste, all of it. This recipe looks delicious, but what can I use in place of the evil mayo? Thanks!
Plain full-fat Greek yogurt
Delicious, light yet filling. I would love to see a similar recipe for stuffed shrimp or baked lobster.
I add a pinch of Old Bay to the crab. If using haddock I soak it first in salted water to add a bit of moisture to it. I also add capers for a bit of tang.
Assuming that you can find decently sized flounder or sole fillets. I was recently shopping for flounder on Cape Cod, and the fillets were about the size of a piece of Monopoly money. The same is true in the supermarkets I’ve been to in northeastern Connecticut. Are they overfished?
Old Saybrook,Ct has good fish stores and Big Y super market has a decent seafood section. I am a picky fresh off the boat from Maine or generous neighbors who share. I am very lucky to have had such treats.
PS – Ritz crackers are also a great switch for the plain saltines.
Can I cook the cod with the scallops in one dish? Does it go after the scallops or after the crackers?
For those that don’t want mayo use melted butter or margarine instead to hold crumbs together.
Also mix together ketchup and lite sour cream. Put on fish and enjoy. Sprinkle with with any crumbs and lemon.
If the fillets are small and can’t be rolled, lay the fillets flat in the buttered baking dish and spoon the stuffing on top. Doing it this way, you don’t need the additional crumbs. Cooking time will be less, and a minute or so under the broiler at the end will crisp the top of the stuffing. If you broil, stand there and watch – they can burn/overcook quickly. I would imagine this stuffing recipe can be used for shrimp and scallops. You could also substitute chopped shrimp and/or scallops for the crab. Be creative!
Wow this recipe looks delish. I love how versatile it can be by using different seafood. This site https://qualityseafooddelivery.com/crab/dungeness/meat/ has great info on lump crab meat.
Why can we not decent seafood here in Connecticut? I live in West Haven and shop around Stratford, Milford, Orange, West Haven. Can’t find nice white fish. They are slicing the fish lengthwise, the slices are paper thin. I went into a seafood store in Stratford to buy scallops, he had them already packed in plastic containers, I wasn’t able to really see them for the color or smell if they were fresh. I’m lucky to live right on the coast of Connecticut, I should have very little problem finding, purchasing fresh seafood of any kind. It’s a shame that Phoenix, AZ. has nicer seafood then a state like Connecticut! Lyn C.
Stowes in West Haven has fresh seafood, is recently renovated, and should by now be re-opened
Made this tonight, except used cod and had to omit crackers and use only bread crumbs… Was a keeper dish and will be putting in our green recipe book. I’d like to use this as a main course with steamed broccoli for a dinner party. I’d use a light green salad to start and end with a richer dessert. Again, excellent recipe, we loved it.
Try going over “the bridge” to Branford, CT. a great town with plenty of restaurants. For good (sometimes pricy?) and quality product try Bud’s Fish Market in Indian Neck or Big Y Supermarket in Bran Haven Plaza, yes…Big Y! Usually a good selection including shellfish. Unless I’m looking for large lobsters or something special it’s my usual first stop.
For folks looking for nutritional values, they can change depending upon the brand of crackers or mayo you use. Try a free app like MyFitnessPal. You can enter any recipe and have all values at your fingertips: calories, fat, carbs, protein, sodium, etc.
This sounds so good. I’ll try it!
Anyone near Enfield CT, go to Cold Harbor SEAFOOD. Fresh always, great service and we are always totally satisfied.
I prefer to use 1/2 sleeve Ritz & 1/4 sleeve Saltines… Use Melted Butter (instead of mayo) … Saltines are Bland. Add in S&P, A little sweet paprika, Some garlic powder, A dash of Italian seasoning & grate some fresh lemon zest in — Sprinkle fish with s&p & spirt lemon juice over, top with crumbs. Slice vildala onions thin, put on bottom of pan (or bottom of foil if grilling), top with fish, stuffing, more melted butter & put 4-5 capfuls if white wine around all edges & top of fish – -Bake 350… Flounder cooks quickly— haddock takes 30 minutes…
I live in Connecticut and we have some excellent seafood mongers….Mystic is good and Stonington also