The Royal Chef At Home: Easy Seasonal Entertaining

CRAWFISH STUFFED RED SNAPPER

I REMEMBER BEING IN DESTIN, FLORIDA WATCHING THE BOATS COMING IN WITH AMAZING RED SNAPPER. So fresh, it’s eyes followed you around the quay side. I thought, how cool to take some of that snapper and create an amazing dish with shrimp and crawfish from the gulf. Well, here it is. Just the perfect thing for Kentucky Derby lunch. MAKES 4 PORTIONS

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese 1 pinch cayenne pepper

4 (6 ounce) red snapper fillets, cut into equal halves

½ cup diced celery ½ cup diced red onion ½ cup diced red bell pepper 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 teaspoon minced garlic 1 pinch dried thyme Salt and pepper to taste

12 ounces fresh shrimp, 21/25 count, peeled and deveined 4 ounces crawfish tails, chopped 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened but not melted

¼ cup fresh chopped dill

1 In a large skillet, sauté the celery, onion and bell pepper in the olive oil until soft and translucent. Stir in the garlic, thyme parmesan and cayenne pepper. 2 Pulse the shrimp and crawfish in a food processor and add the softened butter. Season with salt and pepper. Add the peppers and onion mix and stir until combined. Place four pieces of aluminum foil (each large enough to fold into a packet) onto a cutting board with a piece of red snapper on top of each. Spoon

a large tablespoon of shrimp mix on to each of the four pieces of the snapper and top with another piece of snapper. Add another spoon of shrimp mix. Fold the aluminum foil to wrap the fish parcels and bake at 350ºF for about 10-15 minutes until the fish is cooked. 3 Remove the parcels from the oven and let rest for about 5-10 minutes. Open the parcels and place on a serving platter. Garnish with fresh chopped dill.

58 THE ROYAL CHEF AT HOME