Give Crab-Stuffed Salmon A Cajun Twist With This Recipe

Stuffed fish, like stuffed flounder, salmon, or sardines, is a popular restaurant menu item, but it can also be made at home for a delicious and impressive meal. Stuffed salmon can be made in a variety of ways — it's often served as a creamy dish with spinach and cream cheese — but it can be stuffed with other seafood like crab or shrimp for an elevated touch.

Recipe developer Michelle Bottalico has created a recipe for crab-stuffed salmon with a Cajun twist. A flavorful Cajun seasoning comes together quickly with a small collection of key spices. The recipe makes a little more seasoning than you need just for the salmon, but it's so good you'll want to put it on everything. The salmon is stuffed with crabmeat mixed with the Cajun seasoning, mayonnaise for moisture, and mustard, lemon juice, and parsley for flavor. It's all topped with paprika and breadcrumbs for a crispy finish.

Use lump crabmeat if you can, but you don't need to break the bank to buy the fanciest variety, as a simple shelf-stable can of crabmeat from the grocery store produces a good result. You can use more budget-friendly types of crabmeat if needed, as it will be mixed with other ingredients and spices. Crab-stuffed salmon may seem like a gourmet meal, but this quick and easy recipe produces a delicious, restaurant-quality dish. That's a win-win if you ask us.

For the Cajun seasoning, you will need paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, dried oregano, salt, pepper, and cayenne. This recipe makes 2 tablespoons of Cajun seasoning, which was the smallest recipe we could write while keeping the proportions accurate and easy to measure with regular measuring spoons. There will be extra seasoning remaining that you can save for another use.

You will also need salmon filets. The ingredients for the crab stuffing are crabmeat, mayonnaise, whole grain mustard, lemon juice, parsley, breadcrumbs, and more paprika.

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Place all the Cajun seasoning ingredients in a small bowl and stir to mix well. Set aside.

Pat the salmon filets dry and place them on a foil-lined baking sheet or pan.

Cut a vertical slit in each piece, not cutting too close to the short ends or piercing all the way through.

Rub some of the Cajun seasoning onto the tops of the filets.

Place the mayonnaise, mustard, lemon juice, parsley, and 1 teaspoon of the Cajun seasoning in a bowl and stir to combine.

Add the crabmeat and breadcrumbs and mix gently until evenly coated.

Spoon equal amounts of filling into the slits of the salmon filets, arranging more filling in a mound on top of the filets.

Sprinkle breadcrumbs and paprika on top of the filling.

Bake for 12-15 minutes for 1-inch filets or 18-20 minutes for 2-inch filets until the filling is thoroughly heated and the salmon is cooked through.

Serve hot.

If you're looking for the best way to reheat salmon, you actually have a few choices, although many experts recommend reheating it in the oven. Using the oven is a good way to keep the salmon moist, but avoid using too high a heat and drying it out. Cover the salmon in foil and place it on a baking sheet. Place it in a preheated 275 F oven for 15-20 minutes. Use a meat thermometer to make sure the internal temperature reaches 145 F.

If you'd like to reheat salmon faster, you can do so in the microwave. Heat it on high for 1-2 minutes, covered with a damp paper towel to retain moisture. Check that the internal temperature goes up to 145 F here, too. There's a risk of overcooking it with this method, so to be safe, you can lower the power and heat it for 30 seconds at a time until it reaches the same temperature, flipping it occasionally.

Salmon can also be reheated in a greased nonstick pan for 1-2 minutes per side until the internal temperature reaches 145 F. This method will give you the crispiest result, but you'll also have to be careful not to overcook it, so check it frequently. A great way to keep the salmon moist is to reheat it in a steaming basket over simmering water in a covered pot. Check that it's reached 145 F after about five minutes.

The difference between Cajun and Creole cuisines is quite complicated. Cajun people in Louisiana are descended from French-Canadian Acadians, who migrated from what is now Nova Scotia in the mid to late 1700s. The word Cajun comes from the French pronunciation of Acadien. Cajuns were originally called Creole, which, at the time, meant a person of any race who was from the Louisiana colony and spoke French. Creoles were originally descendants of French and Spanish settlers but later also had African, Native American, or mixed origins. Over the years, for social and political reasons, the names started to refer to distinct cultures.

Cajun cuisine uses a lot of flavorful ingredients for seasoning, including cayenne, onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic, scallions, and herbs. It's also known for its use of crawfish, shrimp, catfish, pork, and smoked sausage. Acadian immigrants had to be resourceful and cook with what was available in their new rural home. Even today, Cajun meals are rustic and often cooked in a single pot, as gumbo and jambalaya are.

Creole cuisine has European, African, and Native American influences and is known to be fancier and contain more ingredients than Cajun cuisine. It also tends to include more expensive or foreign ones, as it was often prepared in the homes of the wealthy by enslaved people or in the restaurants of New Orleans. It's associated with the urban Cajun cuisine. Look for tomatoes, rich sauces, and oysters Rockefeller.