Creamy seafood-rice medley

PREP TIME

15 min

Makes

16 cups (4 L)

* PLUS Cooking time: 27 minutes

Andreas Trauttmansdorff

Ingredients

2 tbsp butter
2 cups uncooked long-grain white rice
2 284-mL cans undiluted chicken broth
2 240-mL bottles clam juice
2 tbsp dried dill
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
2 red bell peppers
1 large onion
4 celery stalks
1 kg medium cooked peeled shrimp , or 2 340-g pkgs frozen cooked peeled shrimp
2 227-g pkgs imitation crabmeat
2 250-g blocks cream cheese , at room temperature
2 cups milk
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley , basil or coriander

Instructions

Melt butter in a large, wide saucepan set over medium-high heat. Add rice and stir until grains are evenly coated, about 1 minute. Stir in broth, clam juice, dillweed, salt and pepper.
Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Finely chop red peppers and onion. Stir both into rice. Cover and cook 20 minutes.
While rice is cooking, slice celery in half lengthwise. Thinly slice each half. If using frozen shrimp, rinse under cold running water until ice crystals melt. Coarsely chop crabmeat or slice pieces in half. Cut cream cheese into small cubes.
When rice has cooked 20 minutes, stir in celery, cream cheese and 1 cup (250 mL) milk. Stir often until cheese is almost melted, 1 to 2 minutes.
Then stir in remaining cup (250 mL) milk, shrimp and crab. Cover and cook, stirring often, until shrimp are hot, 4 to 5 minutes. Turn into a large serving bowl or platter and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories
333,
Protein
22.3 g,
Carbohydrates
26.8 g,
Fat
14.9 g,
Fibre
0.9 g,
Sodium
830 mg.

This main course is dressed to impress with shrimp and crab.

Make Ahead

Prepare recipe to the end of step 2. Immediately refrigerate. When cool, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or freeze up to 1 month. Defrost before reheating (it will take 2 days to defrost in the refrigerator). To reheat, add milk called for in step 4 and stir often over medium-low heat until warmed through. Add shrimp and crab and continue with recipe. You may need to add a little more milk if mixture looks dry or you prefer it creamier.