When it comes to their crab imperial recipes, people along the Chesapeake can be secretive. I got this one from an elderly waterman. In the absence of the Pacific rockfish season, substitute sole or flounder.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 30 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 slices day-old white bread, cubed
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon seafood seasoning, such as Old Bay™
- ½ teaspoon dried mustard
- ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 dashes liquid hot pepper sauce, such as Tabasco™
- 2 tablespoons butter, softened
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1 pound fresh lump crabmeat
- 4 (6 ounce) fillets rockfish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8×8 baking dish.
- Mix the bread cubes, parsley, seafood seasoning, mustard, pepper, lemon juice, pepper sauce, butter, and mayonnaise together in a mixing bowl. Gently stir in the crabmeat until well blended, being careful not to break the crab chunks.
- Place the fish fillets on a clean surface, and spoon 1/4 of the crab mixture onto one side. Starting on the side with the crab mixture, roll up the fillet around the crab filling. Place the rolled fish into the prepared dish open side down.
- Bake in preheated oven until light brown and bubbly, and fish flakes with a fork, about 15 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 544 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 9 g |
| Cholesterol | 151 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 53 g |
| Saturated Fat | 8 g |
| Sodium | 792 mg |
| Sugars | 1 g |
| Fat | 32 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Taste good to me.
Picked up some rockfish for the first time and came here for recipes with ingredients on hand. Had most, though not all fresh…or dry. But no crab in the house. But, I did have scallops. So I made this stuffing by chopping up scallops in lieu of crabmeat. Decidedly delicious! Had 30 oz of fish and too much stuffing so placed remainder on top. Baked about 8 min longer than suggested, then broiled for about 2 more. Not as flaky as the cod we are used too (cape codder) but a delicious meaty fish and the stuffing recipe is spot on for a flavorful dish. It was gone too fast…missed my pic opportunities.
Loved It, made some minor changes but it was out of the ballpark win
Disappointing. Nothing special about this dish.
This was super easy and tasted amazing. I used six 6 Oz fillets of petrale sole fish, one fresh Dungeness crab, and 1/4 grams f fresh salad shrimp. Topped it all with my homemade Beurre Blanc sauce and served a side of mashed potatoes and oven roasted asparagus. Delish! I live in Olympia, Washington where I can get super fresh seafood at my local fish market. This recipe was a great way to use my bounty of seafood. My family really enjoyed this recipe (even my steak and potatoes only BF).
It was a hit. So much so, that I am using it again ( within one week ).
I used jumbo lump meat, being from Maryland. I couldn’t find rockfish. So I bought cod. It was just ok. My husband have no comment so I won’t make again.
so good! I had some rockfish and wasn’t sure what to do with it. This crab mixture was delicious! I used imitation crab because that was what I had easily available. And instead of rolling i t, I laid the fish out in the baking dish then covered completely with the mixture. It came out wonderful. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Delicious!!! The whole family loved it. I made it true to the recipe. I had a little crab mixture leftover (maybe 1/3 cup), but I popped it in the oven and everyone got a tablespoon extra crab. My rockfish was thick, but I pounded it out using a meat mallet and it rolled nicely.
I used he recipe as a guide and just sorta threw most of the ingredients in a pan at 400F. OMG. Yes!
Delicious! I sauteed shallots for the mixture and used fresh chives from my garden instead of parsley. I put a tad of butter on top, sprinkled with pakrika (took someone’s suggestion) before I popped it in the overn. I didn’t have white bread, used a multigrain that I toasted first. Really easy and very good. So quick! My family said ‘keep this recipe’!
Pretty good
excellent!!! stayed true to recipe and it was perfect! i just moved to the west coast from Baltimore, Maryland and it felt so good to have a taste of home- i can assure you this is definitely authentic! 🙂
This was really good. I picked up some Rockfish on sale but wasn’t sure what to do with it but I wanted it to be special and not just grilled or something. This was just the recipe I was looking for. We both loved it. I used 1/2 cp of dried bread crumbs and only used about 1/2 lb of crabmeat. It was plenty to fill the 6 fillets I had. 3 were quite small so I just sort of folded them over the stuffing mix. It sounded a bit dry so I also made a creamy white wine sauce to go over it.
I made this exactly as stated except I ended up just topping the fish because mine wouldn’t roll either, as another reviewer stated. The recipe is really good. I found out I don’t care for rockfish. I saved the recipe because the crab filling will be great in other fish. I agree that it is rich and using a little less would help. The flavor is very tasty though – stuffing definitely gets 5 stars. Next time, I think I will add a couple splashes more hot sauce. If you like medium spice, you won’t notice anything with 2 dashes. Enjoy!
This was a wonderful dish. My Dad has had radiation for prostate cancer and can’t have hot/spicy stuff, so I left out the hot sauce. But it was delicious and flavorful all the same. I was afraid that the fish would look pretty (as another reviewer said) “sickly” without a coating, so I brushed the outside with butter and sprinkled with paprika. This was a lovely filling that didn’t take away from the fish at all. Nice balance. Some kind of sauce probably wouldn’t be bad, but wasn’t necessary either. The fish was moist and the dish was very satisfying. I paired it with smashed red potatoes and green beans. I will make this again. Thanks to Chesapeake Baybe for the recipe and to Paula who encouraged me to try a dish with no photo (now submitted!) 🙂 I will definitely make this again.
made these for my friend Kara and me we loved it
AMAZING! Seriously I have never made fish before but my husband caught Rockfish a week ago when he went deep sea fishing. This recipe was easy, fun and delicious!!!!
Delicious! I wasn’t really able to roll the rockfish, so simply topped the crab mixture over the fish and baked it flat. I added a bit extra Old Bay, lemon juice and tabasco at the end for additional flavor.
I give the stuffing 5 stars but the fish only 3. I took the advice of one reviewer and used only about 2/3 of the crab. (I used imitation since I’m in Colorado). It was very yummy but rich. The fish however was bland. I did salt and pepper it before I stuffed it even though the recipe didn’t say to. When it was almost done baking I sprinkled some paprika on the top to give some color. It looked sickly without it. Next time I will use some Old Bay on the fish itself. Overall very good and I will make it again. The family loved it. UPDATE: 6 YEARS LATER….. I happened to find crab meat and rockfish on sale in the same week and remembered this recipe. (We live in CO so it’s a big deal). This time I did not use but about 3/4 of the crab meat. I seasoned the fish with Old Bay before rolling. Then I just buttered, salted, and peppered the tops before baking. The fish was done before the filling was really hot. Make sure you leave your filling out at room temp for a little while so it is not stone cold. To give the tops some color I broiled it for a few minutes. Then the Piece de Resistance was the “Wine Sauce for Seafood” recipe that I poured on top of each piece as served. Wonderful!
This was really rich. I think if I made this again I would only use 1/2 pound of fresh lump crabmeat. Two of my family members enjoyed it and two said they would not want to have it again.