Cheesy Crab Casserole

Now I didn’t get a whole lot of seafood growing up in Ohio.  Especially since dads side of the family was farmers, and moms were all from Kentucky or Tennessee.

So when I moved to Florida, I fell in love with seafood.  The fresher the better.  So I decided to turn one of moms old tuna casserole recipes into something with some fresh local seafood.  One of my favorites is blue crab.  OMG, it is one of the sweetest most tasty things I love to cook with and eat.

I can literally walk down to the end of my street and be at Bayshore Blvd. on Tampa Bay and catch them over the wall with nets when they are in season.

So here is my rendition of moms tuna casserole.

 

Ingredients:

About 2 cups fresh crab meat (you can use canned)

4 tbls. butter

1 cup peas

1 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tbls. chopped Italian parsley

1 teas. salt

1/2 teas cracked black pepper

1 teas. chopped fresh basil (1/2 teas. dried)

4 cups of rice, cooked.

1 10 3/4 oz. can of condensed cream of mushroom soup

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup Italian bread crumbs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350

Butter a 2-quart casserole dish.

Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat.  then add into the butter, the mushrooms, peas, celery, onion bell pepper, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper and basil; stir over medium heat for abut10 minutes or till the veggies are tender.  Add rice, crab meat, soup and 2 cups of the cheese and mix well .

After all is combined, transfer to the casserole dish; sprinkle with the bread crumbs and bake until bubbly and toasted on top.  (about 30 minutes.)