Stuffed Mushrooms are a wonderful appetizer or meal. You can use small 2-4-inch size mushrooms or larger plate sized “Shrooms”. A different way to enjoy mushrooms is to stuff them with fish!

I pretend that that the fish meat is crab and basically prepare Crab Cakes that I stuff into the mushrooms. You will need to either poach and flake the fish filets or trim them into small bits that can be quickly sautéed.

I once had a party where I found several old frozen bags of Blue Fish filets in the bottom of my freezer. It was like 20 pounds of what most folks don’t like. Fresh Blues are tasty, but frozen fish often lose their flavor and texture. Anyway, I thawed them out and poached them in a bit of white wine, water, lemon juice, and Old Bay seasoning. Once the fish changed color, I drained the meat and flaked it into a bowl.

I used the Crab Cake recipe on the Old Bay seafood seasoning can, to prepare my Faux crab/fish cakes. While the flaked fish was chilling, I cleaned out a bunch of 2-4-inch mushroom cups. Saving the stems, I chopped them up with some onion, cucumber, parsley, and Old Bay seasoning. After frying them in butter for about 2-3 minutes, I removed them from the heat and added a couple raw eggs and the flaked fish, using a rubber spatula to gently blend the ingredients.

I now added the conglomeration to the mushroom shells. Then I made crab cakes, Crab Imperial, and Crab dip out of the rest. I also served fresh summer sliced tomatoes and other seafood sides along with a Homemade Tartar Sauce and a few other sauces. Each was broiled with a bit of butter on top to add heat and golden brown color.

Sure, these fish came from the same place that crabs do but… Crabs are a shellfish and Blues are a fin fish. At this party, my guests thought I broke the bank and shared 20 pounds of fresh Blue Crab meat. They ate every morsel of the Fish Faux Crab treats.

I find that white skinned fish work the best for this recipe. Trout and salmon tend to be a bit soft and do not flake as well. They still taste good but try using bass, perch, crappie, bluegills, or the white meated pan fish.

Get Stuffed and enjoy your fish!

Montana Grant

For more Montana Grant, find him pigging out at www.montanagrantfishing.com.