Spring cleaning occurs on all fronts at our house. We’re clearing the packing bin for washing and packaging produce, organizing the garage so tables full of seedlings can be pulled in on cold nights, and deep cleaning the house after a winter with closed windows.

It’s also a good time to work through existing canned goods, pantry items, and frozen produce from last season. It becomes a sort of game for my weekly menu planning. We’re already incorporating fresh items into our diet…asparagus, spinach, chives, walking onions, arugula, radishes, and nettles. But, I try to pull something from the pantry and freezer from each meal as well. I know as the season moves on, I’ll be preserving produce for Fall and Winter. There needs to be room for the new items, so out with the old!

There’s always the occasional “When did I purchase this?” For me, that happened a couple weeks ago with two cans. One of crab and one of cocktail shrimp. I don’t recall a time in the past when I’ve used these canned items, so I can’t imagine why I bought them in the first place.

Doesn’t matter. I now needed to use them. And use them I did. I kept thinking along the lines of a warm cream cheese dip, but I also kept thinking I could do better. Then it came to me…make a stuffing for fish. So, we pulled from the freezer some Alaskan cod gifted to us by some friends and proceeded to make a super tasty baked stuffed cod. We only used two fillets the night we made it, but the stuffing goes a long way, so I’m suggesting 4 fillets in the recipe below.

Crab & Shrimp Stuffed Cod

Ingredients:

• 4 cod fillets
• 3/4 cup butter
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 3 cups dried bread crumbs for stuffing
• 1 small can crab
• 1 small can cocktail shrimp
• 2 teaspoons dried sage
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon savory
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne, plus a pinch for sprinkling
• 1 Tablespoon chives, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 365 degrees.
2. Make an incision into the cod for stuffing. We did the insert into the top, but you could also cut into the side if you prefer. I think the presentation is nicer with the stuffing on the top.
3. Melt 1/2 cup butter in a pan over medium heat. Saute onion and celery for about 5 minutes, until tender. Add sage, paprika, thyme, savory, Kosher salt, pepper, and cayenne. Stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds and remove from heat.
4. Add bread crumbs and butter, stir to combine. Add crab and shrimp (along with any juice in the cans) and stir to combine.
5. Melt remaining butter, set aside.
6. Grease a cookie sheet.
7. Stuff cod fillets with stuffing and place on greased cookie sheet. Drizzle with melted butter and sprinkle with a pinch of cayenne.
8. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Start checking fish around 25 minutes as you won’t want to overcook the fish.
9. Sprinkle with chopped chives and serve with roasted asparagus.