Baked Cod with Seafood Stuffing

Let’s talk about seafood stuffing.

Once upon a time, I fell in love with seafood stuffing at one of my favorite restaurants here in Connecticut – Saybrook Fish House in Canton (shoutout to them!). I’m pretty sure their seafood stuffing is the reason the place became one of my favorites. Lou and I used to bring the kids there when they were little – they had butcher paper on the tables and crayons for the kids to draw with while we waited for our food. My kind of place!

And their seafood stuffing? Chef’s kiss.

I’ve tried a bunch of versions over the years, but this one has become my go-to. It’s cozy, packed with flavor, and works with all kinds of fish – or just on its own, honestly! You can mix and match the seafood (shrimp, scallops, crab, clams – go wild!) or even keep it meatless and toss in some mushrooms for texture.

This recipe is a keeper. You bake the seafood stuffing right on top of cod fillets for a dish that’s company-worthy, but easy enough for a weekend dinner.

90 minutes/moderate/6 servings

nutrition per serving:

429 calories, 39g protein, 17g carbs, 19g fat, 3g sugar

ingredients

• For the fish:

  • 3 cod fillets, each cut in half

  For the seafood stuffing:

  • 1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed

  • 1 cup plain or Italian-style breadcrumbs

  • 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped

  • 1 rib celery, sliced

  • 1 bell pepper, chopped small (trust me on this!)

  • 1 clove garlic, minced

  • 1 cup raw shrimp, chopped into bite-sized pieces

  • 1 (1-lb) can lump crabmeat

  • 2 eggs

  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter

  • 1/4 cup cooking sherry (or white wine)

  • Salt & pepper to taste

directions

Make the stuffing:

1. In a medium pot, bring 2 cups of water and 1 tsp salt to a boil. Stir in breadcrumbs and crushed Ritz crackers. Cover and cook just until water is absorbed.

2. In a skillet, sauté onion, celery, and bell pepper over medium heat until soft and slightly caramelized. Add garlic and cook for another minute.

3. Add sautéed veggies to the breadcrumb mixture and stir well to combine.

4. Mix in the eggs and melted butter. Then stir in the shrimp and crab. Let everything cook together for a few minutes – just until the shrimp begin to turn pink.

5. Add the sherry (don’t skip it – it makes the dish!) and season with salt and pepper. Let sit for 15 minutes.

Prepare the fish and bake:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F and spray a shallow baking dish with non-stick spray.

2. Lay cod fillets flat in the dish.

3. Spoon seafood stuffing over each fillet, pressing it down slightly.

4. Bake for 30 minutes on the middle rack.

5. For a crisp, golden finish, move the dish up higher in the oven or place under the broiler for 5–10 minutes. Watch closely to avoid burning.

notes

Saybrook Fish House in Canton, CT. Their food is exceptional, which includes their seafood stuffing! You NEED to go there and eat there! This recipe reminds me of theirs, for sure. Here are 2 of my kids’ drawings from our visits that I mentioned:

But I digress…

I gotta say, the PEPPERS make this stuffing for me. You wouldn’t initially think of adding bell pepper to this, but it really works. And you are thinking “eh, I don’t really like bell peppers” (a la my daughters 😉) Trust me and try using the peppers. Just cut them small and cook them well! The sweet pepper flavor really works in this dish.

Be sure to cook all the veggies until they are well softened before you combine them with the breadcrumb mixture.

One more ingredient that makes this recipe sing to me – SHERRY. You can easily find this in your local store. You can use white wine if you don’t like sherry, but do me a favor and use sherry in this recipe. A splash of this at the end of cooking the stuffing makes things perfect!

And remember, you can use a variety of shellfish in your stuffing. I use crabmeat and shrimp, but add baby scallops and/clams to the mix if you want. There isn’t a wrong combination of these! And I use the cans of lump crabmeat. Easy to use and just delicious.

Back to the white fish. This stuffing would work well with any flaky fish. I used cod here but you can use other flaky fish such as flounder, haddock, halibut or mahi-mahi. You can stuff the flaky fish with the stuffing or just put the stuffing on top of the fish to bake it. And as I ALWAYS say, use fresh ingredients whenever possible. Find a fish market that has fresh, locally caught fish if you can. ALWAYS use fresh products that you like and trust.

And you could just make a big pile of this seafood stuffing and eat it “plain.” Well, it’s not plain, by any means! I ended up having some extra stuffing when I recently made this, so I put the extra stuffing in a small baking dish and baked it along side of the fish dish!

seafood stuffing photo before the final bake:

Make it. Eat it. Love it.

Whether you’re serving it over fish or straight out of a baking dish, this seafood stuffing is a flavor bomb. Give it a try and let me know what seafood combo you go with – I’m always looking for new twists!