If you want to impress your sweetie on Valentines Day or any day with a seafood dinner, here are some simple recipes to help you get started.

Seafood Dinner Appetizer: Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients:

2 cups crabmeat

1 block cream cheese

1/2 c fresh parsley, finely chopped

1/2 c green onions, finely chopped

4 T Parmesan cheese, finely grated

3/4 c seasoned bread-crumbs

1 t minced garlic

1 t salt

1 t pepper

20-22 stuffing mushrooms, cleaned, stems removed, and hollowed out.

1 c mozzarella cheese

1 stick butter

non-stick cooking spray

Preparation: In a medium saute pan combine crab, parsley, butter, green onions, garlic, salt and pepper. Saute over low-medium heat for about 15 minutes. In a large mixing bowl combine crab mixture, parmesan cheese, breadcrumbs and cream cheese until thoroughly mixed Stuff mixture inside mushroom caps and top with mozzarella cheese. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray and place mushrooms on baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Seafood Dinner Salad: Soft-Shell Crab Salad

To prepare the Crab:

4 soft-shell crabs, cleaned and rinsed

2 cups buttermilk

1 tablespoon season salt

4 medium soft-shell crabs, cleaned and rinsed

Canola or Vegetable oil, for frying

2 cups unbleached flour

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Salad:

1 head bibb, or romaine lettuce, trimmed and hand torn

2 bunches watercress, trimmed

1/2 onion, sliced

1 hard boiled egg

2-3 Slices of cooked bacon

Lemon slices, for garnish when serving

To prepare the soft-shell crabs: Pour the buttermilk in a large shallow bowl large (select a bowl large enough to hold all the crabs). Season the buttermilk with the season salt, and pepper. Layer the crabs in the buttermilk mixture and cover, marinate in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours. When the crabs are marinated, remove the crabs from the milk bath.

Pour 2 inches of oil in a heavy frying pan or large stockpot and heat the oil to 350 degrees F.

Put the flour in a pie dish or plate and mix in season salt and pepper to taste. Coat the crabs on both sides in the flour mixture. Shake off the excess flour. Drop the crabs in the hot oil gently without crowding. Be cautious of the hot grease, when you add the moist crabs to the hot grease they will pop and spatter. Cook the crabs for about 3 minutes on each side, turning once, until golden brown. Turn them out on paper towels to drain.

Assemble the salad by combining the watercress, lettuce, and onion slices in a mixing bowl. Toss with your favorite seafood dressing. Arrange the salad on a serving platter, place the fried crabs on top, and chop the hard boiled egg, and bacon, sprinkle both over the top of the salad. Garnish with lemon wedges and serve immediately.

Seafood Dinner Soup: Clam Chowder

Ingredients:

2 cans crab with juice

3-4 slices of bacon cooked and chopped

6-8 Medium potatoes peeled and diced in 2” cubes

1 medium onion diced

1 ½ teaspoon minced garlic

2-3 cups 2% milk

1 cup heavy cream (to make this recipe lighter, substitute a second cup of 2% milk for the heavy cream)

1 tablespoon Butter

Oyster Crackers

To make it:

Boil the potatoes until tender. While the potatoes are boiling, brown the onion, and garlic with the butter in a large skillet until the onion is tender and starting to carmelize. Add the clams, with their juice, and the bacon to the skillet, and heat. When the potatoes are tender, drain the water, and add them to the skillet mixture. Add the milk and heavy cream, and simmer on low until thoroughly heated, stirring regularly. Be careful not to heat to fast, or the mixture may scald. Serve with oyster crackers.

Seafood Dinner Main Course: Cooking Crab Legs

Crab legs are one of the simplest things to cook. How much should you cook? As a general guideline you should cook about 1 pound of crab legs per person. Place a large stockpot filled about ½ to 2/3 with water on the stove, and bring to a boil. When the water is boiling add the crab legs, and a teaspoon of seasoning salt. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove the crab legs from the water and serve hot, with melted butter.

Seafood Dinner Main Course: Crab Cakes

Ingredients:

2 cans of crabmeat, or 3 cups of crumbled fresh crabmeat

1 teaspoon minced garlic

½ small onion, finely chopped

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

1 egg

½ cup bread crumbs

Vegetable oil for frying

To make it:

Mix crabmeat, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, egg, and bread crumbs together in a small bowl. Form into small patties, and drop in a frying pan with oil. Cook until brown on one side, then flip to cook the other side. Remove when golden-brown, and serve hot with tartar sauce.

Seafood Dinner Main Course: Grilled Shrimp Kabobs

Peel and clean 1 pound of fresh shrimp

Marinate the shrimp in Italian dressing for at least 1 hour

Kabob with whole mushrooms, red and yellow bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, and onion slices. Grill the kabobs for about 5-10 minutes on each side, or until the shrimp is thoroughly cooked. Serve hot.

Add your favorite dessert, some flowers, and wine, and you’ve got a complete seafood feast.