Crab Cake Stuffed Shrimp

Everyone at my house really enjoys a good stuffed shrimp recipe.  I have tried several, but I knew as soon as I saw this recipe it was going to be great and it was just that! The crab cake mixture is full of great flavor.  I also used some of the leftover stuffing I had to make crab cake benedicts…you will see that recipe tomorrow!

INGREDIENTS
10 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup green bell pepper, chopped
1 cup red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 cloves garlic, minced
16 ounces crab meat
30 buttery cracker (Ritz), crushed
1/2 cup panko crumbs
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 teaspoon old bay seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
24 jumbo shrimp, peeled, deveined with tails on
1 lemon

DIRECTIONS
Heat five tablespoons of butter in a large skillet until melted. Add onion and saute until soft. Add bell pepper, remaining five tablespoon of butter, wine and garlic, cook until tender about 4-5 minutes.
In a large bowl add crabmeat , onion mixture, cracker crumbs, panko, pepper, old bay, salt and red pepper. Mix until well combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour, but no longer than 24 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Using a sharp knife and starting at the tail end, butterfly each shrimp so the shrimp will lay flat and have surface for the stuffing. Place each shrimp on a prepared baking sheet pressing the shrimp down so the tail of the shrimp is over the flat area of the shrimp. Do this for each shrimp. Using about three tablespoons of the crab mixture at a time,  roll the crab mixture into a ball and place on top of the shrimp pressing down on to the shrimp with the tail over the crab mixture. Do this for each one and bake for 10-15 minutes or until shrimp is pink and crab mixture is warm. Remove from oven,  squeeze fresh lemon juice over the top and serve warm.

Enjoy,

This recipe can also be found at www.allrecipes.com