This updated Fannie Farmer recipe for baked stuffed fish is both simple and delicious.
Photo: Julie Bidwell
Baked Stuffed Fish
In 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.
Total Time: 45 minutes
Hands-On Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 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.
