Jims Chesapeake Bay Classic Seafood Platter

Growing up around the Chesapeake Bay during the late 60’s and 70’s, a tradition we boys had with our dad was going out for a delicious broiled seafood platter. One of our favorite places to go for seafood was the historic Nicks in Yorktown Virginia but unfortunately Nicks is no longer, and that’s a damn shame.

There are many versions of the seafood platter and depending on where you are in the world will largely depend on what type of fresh seafood one has access to. Here on the Bay the standard fresh fare on a platter was flounder, shrimp, scallops, and a backfin crabcake. Sometimes a platter would be served with the flounder stuffed with crabmeat which is of course, totally awesome as well.


Over the last 40 years I have noticed in my region of the country, the seafood platter has waned.  Either they are not as popular as they use to be, the seafood is imported elsewhere, or you will see on the menu (which I hate) “choose two”.

Well the good news is you can cook up an excellent seafood platter at home; it is really pretty easy however there are a few very important things to know. Below is what you will need for a great seafood platter and understand that everything has to be fresh, not fresh frozen! You will have to substitute items on your platter based on what is available fresh to you.

You will need (for two)

Two 10 inch cast iron skillets well-seasoned

Four lemons sliced

Two pounds of fresh flounder

One pound fresh large shrimp with heads on

One pound large sea scallops

Two fresh backfin crab cakes

One stick of butter

Two cups fresh shrimp stock

Fresh herbs

Four cloves sliced garlic

Two cups white wine

Two cups jasmine rice

Four bay leaves

Old Bay

Garlic powder

Black Pepper

Celery salt

One cup bread crumbs

How to prepare the crab cake:

First make your crab cake. Now, there are a million different recipes of which everyone calls theirs the best and that is fine. Not going to debate this recipe, just do this simple version.

Place crabmeat in a bowl; add one beaten egg and only enough bread crumbs to hold shape of the cake meaning, really very little. Squeeze fresh lemon juice and a dash of Old Bay, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and some celery salt. I also add a dash or two of Texas Pete.

Mix everything up gently as to not break up the backfin lumps. Form into a cake and set aside. Heat up a cast iron skillet to medium high heat and add some olive oil or butter. Sear each side of the crab cake cooking them only a couple of minutes or so on each side. When done, place cakes in the fridge until ready to prepare platter.

How to prepare the scallops:

Pan sear each scallop in a cast iron skillet with butter. Sear each side only about a minute on each side. You don’t want to fully cook the scallop at this stage.

How to prepare the shrimp:

Wash the shrimp and place in a bowl. Take the heads off each shrimp and place in a separate bowl. Next peel and devein each shrimp and place the discards in a bowl with the heads. Now place the peeled and deveined shrimp in the fridge.

Place all the shrimp discards in a boiling pot and add five cups of water and a splash of white wine. Then add hole peppercorns, four cloves garlic, and a stick of celery. Boil for 10 minutes then reduce to medium and cook for another 30min to an hour. Then strain the shrimp stock using a cheesecloth, napkin or towel. Place the remaining cleaned stock in a container and put in the fridge.

How to prep the cast iron:

The 10 inch cast iron skillets are also used as the serving trays. Be sure to have the proper oven mitts when handling cast iron and warn your dinner guest the cast iron is very hot when served. It is also a good idea to set hot plates at each dinner setting or small cutting boards to place under the cast iron.  We also have mitt handle pads for the skillet handle that we leave on while dining. This way if someone wants to adjust or turn the skillet they can without getting burnt.

The skillets should be well seasoned. I preseason them again before cooking this dish and do a quick spray of olive oil nonstick. A guaranteed nonstick surface!

How to cook the rice:

For cooking the rice use your homemade shrimp stock but save about a cup of the stock to be used in assembling the platter. DO NOT FULLY COOK THE RICE! Cook it about 80% because the rice will continue to cook n the platter once put in the oven.

Assembling the platter and cooking:

Preheat oven to 375.

Take the shrimp and sprinkle a LITTLE Old Bay or your favorite Cajun seasoning over the shrimp and place in a section of the skillet. Now place the flounder filet alongside as well as the seared scallops and crab cake.

Next add the rice to the skillet and top everything with fresh herbs, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Place three or four lemon slices alongside the rim of the skillet and then add 1\2 of shrimp stock to the skillet. Then set a pat of butter on each item including the rice.

Pace both skillets in the pre heated oven and bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Lastly set the oven to hi broil and broil off the skillet for about two minutes.

The skillets will be extremely hot, use caution when serving.

That’s it! Enjoy!

Tips:

I could not get fresh flounder for this dinner, so bought whatever I could get that was fresh so we used cod. My favorite substitute if I can’t get flounder is fresh speckled trout.

Try not to use large game fish like tuna or swordfish, although they are fantastic fish to eat, you really don’t want a steak filet in a seafood platter.

Adding some fresh Chesapeake Bay oysters in the skillet (in shell) is a great way to go,  we just did not have any during this recipe.

Should you need more liquid in the skillet just prior to broil, use white wine.

Tight Lines and Cheers!

Jim Baugh

JBOTV