Seafood Casserole(or, Poor Man's Mayo-Free Mock Panko Dynamite)- very easy and tasty

mmm-yoso!!! is the blog about food.  Here is yet another episode, written by Cathy.

Special Thanks to The Office Goat for giving me a more accurate title after trying the recipe.  I need a Thesaurus for Christmas...

Hi.  I apparently forgot to get all of you to sign my Vacation Request so I could skip a couple of $5 Fridays.  Sorry.  I try to show how to make a meal for two for $5 using ingredients on sale that week.  That is the concept behind this series anyhow.  

This recipe is so simple and wonderful.  If you aren't lactose intolerant. Once you taste it, this is like crack.  You will want it again and again and more each time.  It is rich, decadent and wonderful.  The Mister said I should not have put up such a mundane title or label for this recipe. If you have read this far, continue.  I promise you will love this simple recipe.

 I usually can find uncooked seafood on sale or marked down, and of course for the photograph today, couldn't.  Fresh and Easy marks down items that are dated to go bad in the next day or so, and the seafood has a small sticker which will change color if the contents have gone bad.  If you have a small casserole dish, buy about half as much seafood to fill it.  Raw  fish, scallops or shrimp or some cooked lobster, crab or that crab-like product.

For my casserole dish, 10 ounces is more than enough seafood.  You also need one 'tube'/packet of crackers (see how good I am- multi grain Saltines)(Ritz crackers are particularly good, by the way), a stick of butter and some half and half, salt and pepper.

Crush the crackers, pour in the stick of melted butter and mix. 

A small layer of buttered crackers can go on the bottom(you can spray with a non-stick coating first if you would like). 

Then all the seafood on top of that.  

'

 

 

Top with the rest of the butter/cracker mix, add salt and pepper.

Pour half and half to soak in the crackers, but not too much.

Bake @ 350° if raw, 325° if cooked seafood is used for 30 minutes or so, until top is browned.  
   

 The scallops are cooked and buttery and the crackers are both crispy and creamy...once you taste this, you'll crave it and sometimes might just bake crackers and butter with some half and half...

Have a nice weekend.

Cathy's Seafood Casserole

8-10 ounces raw seafood (fish, shrimp, scallops) or cooked crab, lobster or surimi.

One packet plain crackers (Saltines, Ritz)

One stick butter

Half and half, salt and pepper.

Crush crackers and mix with one stick melted butter. Layer on bottom, layer with seafood, layer rest of crackers. Salt and pepper top layer of cracker butter mix.  Pour half and half to soak.  Bake uncooked seafood @350° for 30 min (already cooked seafood can go at 325°)  until top is browned.  Let cool before burning the top of your mouth.

 

Comments

[ed (from Yuma)]

Hey, missed you for a couple of weeks. I always read and enjoy the Friday recipes. My type of easy and easy cooking.

[tina trotter]

Is Cathy really Sandra Lee of the food network? She is a little too white bread for this blog is my opinion.

[Cathy]

Hey ed- It's been a bit of an unscheduled year for me and I took a couple of weeks off. This recipe ends up being addictive.

Hello tina trotter- Welcome to this commenting side of the blog. I actually collect old Community/Church type cookbooks (have more than 100)and find the recipes from the 40's and 50's and 60's to be fascinating in their simplicity and adaptiveness to today's world. This particular recipe was adapted from "Favorite Recipes from our Best Cooks", Copyright 1968, written by members of the Congregational Church of Rockland, Maine. I use butter instead of Oleo. I don't talk tablescapes, alcoholic beverages nor complete meals when writing my recipes. I do plenty of "fancy" cooking, as my Father in Law was a Professional Chef, however enjoy preparing inexpensive yet tasty meals using quality ingredients on most nights and sharing these on the blog. I am glad you read my posts and am happy to have been asked by Kirk to help him with his blog for the past 2+ years.

[the office goat]

I'm gonna try this recipe: I have a feeling my kids might love it. They can be loony in their food preferences, but this has potential (4yearold son will eat all the raw fish and fish eggs off the top of a plate of sushi, but not the rice; 2yearold daughter will eat balut, but not turkey enchiladas).
Thanks Cathy!

[Cathy]

Once you taste it, TOG, you'll want it for yourself. Seriously. Use saltines and real butter and any juice from the scallops or whatever fish. How sad, the children don't crave carbs-more for the rest of us! :)

[the office goat]

Made it (with scallops) last night, everybody liked it. My son also really liked smashing the crackers, too. Thanks again. Maybe if you call it "Poor man's mayo-free mock panko dynamite" the bigots won't get cranky.

[Cathy]

Dynamite! Of Course, TOG. I changed the title. So glad you tried it and that everyone liked it. I sometimes get frustrated and try to defend myself, but I know whatever I write here is honest, which should be good enough.

[caninecologne]

Just saw this post while scrolling the side bar...and I want to make it soon with my fake Krab and some shrimp!

Great title by the way! :)

That 2nd commenter...geez. Some people are so rude and tactless.

[Cathy]

Oh, you'll really like it, cc. Simple and just so tasty; you'll find yourself mashing up crackers and butter, pouring some half and half on top and baking it in the toaster oven. (Some comments need to stay up, even though I can delete.)