Crabmeat-Stuffed Sole (Page 304)

RECIPE #1147
Date: Monday, April 19, 2010 -- 7pmLocation: Berkeley, CAKitchen: Our Temporary California HomeFellow Chef: MattyRecipe Rating: B


I chose this recipe as part of the All Seafood All The Time Plan. After several months of eating nothing but seafood, fish stuffed with fish didn't sound too appealing. It wasn't so bad though! My special gentleman made the stuffing: he stirred together crabmeat, mayonnaise, diced yellow bell pepper, and chopped parsley, then seasoned with salt and pepper. We mounded the stuffing on sole fillets, then folded the fillets to cover it. We then baked the fillets, covered. While the fillets baked we cooked some fresh breadcrumbs and garlic in olive oil until golden. We stirred in lemon zest, salt, and pepper. To serve, I topped each fillet with some breadcrumbs and drizzled with pan juices. This dish was pretty good. The sole was nicely cooked and the pan juices and breadcrumbs were very nice with it. The stuffing was only ok. My special gentleman thought there was too much parsley. I thought there was too much crab. The yellow bell peppers were nice in it, and I wished that there were more of them. I would have preferred my fish to have a non-fish stuffing, but as it was the dish was perfectly fine.

The recipe is here.

And just like that, I am 30! I had such a nice birthday today. Emilee and I took a long walk on what was an absolutely beautiful day. We got pedicures, went out for lunch at a lovely cafe, and wandered through several grocery stores buying an assortment of candy for her brother who is deployed in Iraq. In the afternoon we lounged around, playing with Sam, then prepared a birthday feast! Cornelia came down from San Francisco, and together the four of us made salmon in salmon jello, parsley salad, fresh fettuccine with peas, peppers, and prosciutto, and tiramisu ice cream cake. Back in 2006, when I started this project, Emilee flipped through The Book and noticed the Poached Salmon in Aspic. A whole fish covered in fish jello sounded so intriguing that she made me promise I would save that one for sometime when she was around. I have put it off all these years, but now it seemed like it was about time to buy a fish poacher and make it! So that was the centerpiece of our dinner! Some parts of the meal were more successful than others, but it was a very fun evening of cooking and eating with friends! Plus, watching Sam eat the aspic (aka salmon jello) by the spoonful totally cracked me up. That wasn't a part of the meal that I thought a two year old would particularly appreciate, but he sure did!

Obviously I wish my special gentleman hadn't been out of town so he could have celebrated with us too, but nonetheless it was a great day!