crabby imitation.

When I was younger, I discovered the wonders of seafood louis salad and, in turn, imitation crab. At the time, I was going to college and the louis salad they had at the campus grocery always had imitation crab. I got sooo hooked on that salad! I loved the flavor and texture of the imitation crab and find myself buying packages to experiment with at home.

Fast forward to now, and I still love the stuff. I particularly love Kanimi's Crab Smart brand as it's made with natural ingredients and doesn't have any added preservatives. Plus, it tastes great too! That's a winner in my book!

Anyway, back to the dish. The hubby recently bought some blue crab dip from Costco for New Years. It made for great snacking sandwiches with a little bit of onion and celery added in. For mine, I stirred in a little bit of lemon juice to cut some of the brininess that I sometimes get when I eat crab. So, since New Years was a few days ago and we had some dip left over, I thought I would experiment and make something with it.

At first, I wanted to make some crab cakes since it's very rare that we have actual real crab products in the house. However, I was concerned that it was going to be too mushy and wouldn't have enough texture to it. Then I thought, maybe crab-stuffed fish instead? Oh, wait . . . I didn't have all the ingredients. . . :/

In the end, I decided to mash the two recipes together. Invention is the mother of necessity, so I substituted with whatever I had in the fridge. And for my "Aha!" moment, I decided to add imitation crab to the actual crab in order to give some "meat" in the stuffing. Spinach was added in an "oh-my-god-I'm-out-of-parsley!" moment to make up the bulk of the green sauce. Oi . . .

In the end, though, this on-a-whim experiment turned out surprisingly really well! The lemony-herby "chimichurri" sauce was nice and "refreshing", as the hubby put it, and really made the dish bright. The stuffing turned out exactly as I wanted it with a great crabby taste and pieces of the imitation crab acting as nice fillers. With some salad, this made for a lovely light dinner!

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Crab Stuffed Flounder with Spinach Chimichurri Sauce
(adapted from Winter Monroe and QVC's In the Kitchen with David)

For the Sauce:
1 large handful baby spinach
1 large handful flat leaf parsley
1 scallion, cut into pieces
1 large garlic clove
1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar
2 to 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 to 2 tbsp lemon juice
salt and pepper, to taste

For the Crab Stuffing:
1/4 cup Inland Market's Blue Crab Spread dip
1/4 cup Kanimi's Crab Smart imitation crab flakes, lightly flaked
1/4 cup plain breadcrumbs
1/2 cup onions,, finely chopped
1 handful fresh flat leaf parsley, minced
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 rib celery, finely chopped
2 tbsp finely chopped red onion
2 tsp lemon juice
pinch ground coriander
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp black pepper

2 flounder filets
garlic powder
onion powder
paprika
ground coriander
salt and pepper
olive oil

 
Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Prepare a greased, foil-lined baking pan.

In a food processor or blender, combine all ingredients for sauce and blend until greens are finely chopped but not pureed. Season as needed (this should be lemony and herby with a hint of garlic) then set aside.

Drizzle olive oil on flounder fillets then season with spices, salt, and pepper to taste. Set aside.

In bowl, combine all ingredients for crab stuffing. Place the flounder filets flesh-side down on a work surface. Take half of the stuffing mixture and place onto the center of each filet. Roll each fish filet around the stuffing and place them, seam-side down, onto the baking pan.

Sprinkle each filet with salt, pepper, and paprika, then bake for 40 to 45 minutes. To serve, drizzle fish with chimichurri with additional sauce served on the side.

Makes 2 servings.