This is a great special occasion dish, like for Mother’s Day. My brother gave me the original, sketchy recipe years ago. It really calls for phyllo sheets, but this time I decided to use puff pastry because it’s easier to work with. You’ll use an entire box of puff pastry for the full recipe. It’s rich and wonderful and definitely not a dish you’d make on a regular basis.
Seafood Strudel
Ingredients
- 2 TBSP butter
- 2 TBSP flour
- 1/2 tsp Dijon
- Pinch salt
- Pinch cayenne pepper
- 3/4 cup milk, room temperature
- 2 TBSP cream
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan
- 1/4 tsp dry mustard
- 1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
- 2 tsp chopped chives
- 1/4 cup diced shallots
- 1 large clove garlic, pressed
- 1 lb cooked crab, shrimp, lobster, halibut, and/or any mild white fish (or combination) in bite-sized pieces
- Puff pastry
- 2 TBSP softened butter
Instructions
- The first step is to make a white sauce. Melt butter in a saucepan. Whisk in flour and cook for a minute. Remove from heat and stir in: dijon, salt, and cayenne. Slowly stir in milk and on medium heat, stir until thickens. Stir in cream, remove from heat, place in bowl and chill until firm.
- In a large bowl mix together the breadcrumbs and the next eight ingredients. Add chilled sauce. Now gently fold in the seafood.
- Heat oven to 375.
- Place a puff pastry sheet on a parchment covered baking sheet. Pat into a rectangle.
- Take 1/2 the seafood mixture and spread it on the pastry to within 1-2 inches of one of the long edges. Roll in jelly-roll fashion and place seam side down. Repeat with other pastry sheet.
- Smear tops with softened butter.
- Bake 35-40 minutes until golden.
- Note: You can brush tops with melted butter and sprinkle tops with parmesan and chopped parsley, when just out of oven for a great presentation.
- Note: If you use phyllo, brush melted butter between the sheets when stacking them. While it bakes, brush the top with butter 3 times during the baking process.