Pan Seared Red Snapper with Shrimp and Crab Meat au Gratin (Photos)

Yesterday, we stopped at Desportes and Sons on the corner of Division and Porter in Biloxi for seafood to bring home with us.

Today, I made Pan Seared Red Snapper, with Shrimp and Crab Gratin. Here is how I did it, with the Gratin first and then the Snapper.

Shrimp and Crab meat au gratin

Need:

2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons flour
6 Tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 cup chicken broth
As required water to adjust sauce to desired thickness
3 Tablespoons egg, well beaten
Small splash Dry White Wine, or sherry
1/4 tsp salt - to taste
1 Pinch black pepper
3 teaspoons Paprika
2 - 3 teaspoons cayenne
1 1/2 Tablespoon Parmesan Cheese
1/2 pound lump white crab meat
17 Medium/small (48 count) shrimp
1 Pound Red Snapper Fillet
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Chopped Parsley, for plating



Directions:

Make a béchamel sauce with butter, flour, heavy cream, black pepper, and chicken broth, then adjust thickness with water.







Place sauce in 290-degree oven for 20 minutes, until texture of the béchamel is velvety. This is a trick the wife shared with me from the CIA.



Remove from oven and add parmesan cheese and egg. Stir well until smooth and creamy. Add wine, or sherry, taste for seasoning and add salt, and cayenne pepper, to taste, and continue stirring, until smooth. Then add the shrimp.





and crab meat with a little more cayenne, based on a taste of the béchamel when it came from the oven,



Mix together well, and place in preheated oven and hold at 350 for 15-20 minutes until shrimp are done and the sauce is hot.


Pan Seared Red Snapper:

Need:

1 pound fillet, with skin
Salt
Paprika
Red Cayenne Pepper
2 Tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

Cut fillets to size and score the skin side slightly.





Salt lightly and hold for 15 minutes, then pat both sides dry with a paper towel. Season both sides with a 3:1 blend of Paprika and Cayenne Pepper and a little salt.

Heat olive oil in a high temperature proof (non-Teflon) sauté pan until just before it smokes.

Place fillets in pan, skin side down, moving the pan as the fillets are added to keep them from sticking. Sear for 3-5 minutes, until the edges show browning.



Then gently turn fillets (using a spatula and your hands to control the fillet) and cook the flesh side for 1-2 minutes.



Remove to serving plate - skin side down.





and cover with Shrimp and Crab au Gratin. Serve with a simple salad (Radishes, Romain, Green Onion and parsley), seasoned with Balsamic and Olive oil vinaigrette.







Money shot.



Thanks for looking at my post.