BAKED STUFFED SMALL RED SNAPPER

By BobD

Ingredients

• Paste:
• Small red snappers, one for each person, stuffed with a filling of shrimp, scallops, and crabmeat.
• 6 small red snappers ( about 3/4 pound a piece)
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled
• Stuffing
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 pound tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
• 1/2 pound raw shrimp ( about 1 cup ), peeled and deveined
• 1/2 pound yaw scallops ( about 1 cup )
• 2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
• 1/2 pound cooked crabmeat ( about 1 cup )
• The Fish:
• A course needle and thread
• An ovenproof serving dish
• 6 tablespoons melted butter
• Foil to cover

Details

Servings 6
Adapted from cooking.com

Preparation

Step 1

Have the fish cleaned, leaving the head and tail on. Have as much of the backbone removed as possible to form a good pocket for stuffing the fish without completely opening it up.

Crush the garlic and mix it to a paste with the lime juice, adding salt and pepper to taste.

Prick the fish all over on both sides with a coarse-tined fork and rub the paste well in--inside and out. Set the fish aside to season for at least 6 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare the stuffing. Melt the butter with the oil and cook the onion, without browning, until it is soft.

Add the tomatoes and cook them over a brisk flame until some of the juice has evaporated.

Cut the shrimps into halves and the scallops into quarters. Add them, with the parsley and salt and pepper as desired to the tomato mixture and let cook over a medium flame until the scallops and shrimps are just tender--about 10 minutes, Stir in the crabmeat.

Stuff each fish with about 1 cup of the filling and sew it up. Put half of the butter into the dish, place the fish side by side, and sprinkle them with the remaining butter. Cover the dish with foil and bake until the fish is tender, about 20 minutes.

Everything can be done well ahead of time up to the point of stuffing the fish. That should be done at the last moment so that the stuffing does not get watery.