flounder fillets with crab, spinach and cheese

I had a can of crab claw (Byrd brand) that I got on sale. And, frozen flounder fillets. I buy them at BJs – very handy, two 1 pound packs per package. And, I felt like having spinach, too. And, as much as Steve and I always enjoy fillets baked with a fairly simple prep, I decided to try something different. (Remember, I was vegan for a number of years and am now still learning about cooking fish and other carnivore favorites.)

After poking around on the Internet, I found a few recipes for fillets with a crab filling, crab spreads and dips, and finally, some spinach and crab fillings. THAT’s what I wanted. However, the latter had egg in them, and Steve is allergic to eggs. (sigh)

Crab dips have cream cheese and I didn’t want that texture… I finally merged a few recipes and got a great presentation idea from one. I did a layer of fillets, a layer of crab/spinach mix, and topped it with a layer of fillets. Popped it in the oven and YUM! Easier than trying to roll up fillets. 🙂

I am determined to create a page with recipes that will be linked from this blog, so I won’t go into all the ingredient details now. Except that I used freshly grated parm-regiano for the cheese in the filling. (I was hoping to use up some ricotta, too, but it just didn’t fit.) But, I will say that I prepped the fillets the same way I do when baking them with no filling. I melt butter and add lemon juice (usually freshly squeezed, but bottled is okay) while the butter is warming on a low burner. This is important. Stupid me TWICE added the lemon juice after taking the butter off the burner. Of course the butter started coagulating! Anyway, I make some bread crumbs (yes, store bought work fine, too, but I am one of those people who actually save the old bread in a paper bag and then whoosh them through the food processor as needed. Actually, if you make your own breadcrumbs from whole grain breads, they will go rancid quickly. The whole slices stay fine once stale, but breaking them up must release the oils in the whole grains. My theory, anyway.)

ANYWAY…I dip the fillets in the lemon butter, then in breadcrumbs seasoned with dried parsley. And, provide lemon slices for garnish and extra flavor.
Okay, that’s it for now. I am way behind in my writing – I made this at least a week ago, I think!