This crappie balls recipe calls for sausage rolled with crappie fillets. Hum? My thoughts exactly, the first time I tried it, but it’s delicious and it took many “Man this is soooo good” before my kids would even come near it, but now they have no problem with the crappie & sausage balls. I eventually had to double the recipe. The ingredients listed here is plenty for a family of four and can be served on its own; however, crappie rolls can also be served over rice or pasta. Garlic bread and Parmesan cheese is also a great addition to this wonderful recipe. It will leave you longing for another fishing trip to your favorite crappie lake.
SHOP COOKING
INGREDIENTS
- 1/2 lb. crappie fillets
- 1/2 lb. Jimmy Dean sausage
- 4 potatoes, sliced or cubed
- 1 med. onion, chopped
- garlic clove or minced garlic
- 1 tsp. parsley flakes
- 2 cans tomatoes
- tsp. paprika
- 1 bell pepper
- 1 tsp. basil
- parmesan cheese
Cooking Crappie Balls
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. The first step to create the rolls is to cut your crappie fillet into 1 inch strips and set aside. Next roll your sausage into 1 inch balls, unless you have small crappie then you may have to go a little smaller so the fillet will wrap around your sausage ball. Wrap your crappie fillet strips around the sausage ball and secure with a toothpick. Lay the rolls on an ungreased baking dish evenly spaced. If you have some left over sausage or crappie, that was too small to make into a roll, you can just form a loaf with the remaining sausage and lay the crappie pieces on top.
The Vegetables
Chop your onion up to your desired size and set aside. Peel and slice the tomatoes and rinse and cut the bell pepper into strips. Fresh homegrown tomatoes are my preference, but when not available stewed tomatoes work just fine. Drain the juice from the tomatoes and save. When using fresh tomatoes you can use homemade or can of tomato juice for this step if your tomatoes do not produce enough juice on their own. Your tomato should be peeled and cut into halves or fourths depending on their size. Once all the vegetables are prepared lay them evenly throughout the baking dish surrounding the crappie rolls and pour the tomato juice into the bottom. The juice needs to only be an eighth of an inch deep.
The Spices For Crappie Ball Recipe
You can use dried spices or minced garlic for this dish but I really prefer fresh when possible. I really love to chop fresh herbs when I can and the aroma it produces in the kitchen is great. If you use fresh spices finely chop them and combine them together. You can spread your spices evenly over your dish but I prefer to strategically place all the spices within the tomato juice as apposed to on top of the rolls. This allows the spices to cook in the juice and really flavor the dish well. Finally, sprinkle the paprika all over the top.
Cooking Your Crappie Balls
With the oven preheated to 350 degrees cover your baking dish with aluminum foil or a lid and set on the top rack of the oven. Cook for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Remove the crappie rolls from the oven and sprinkle parmesan cheese all over the top. The amount is personal. My kids love cheese, as most kids do, so I like to use shredded parmesan and have even used mozzarella with great success. Toasted garlic toast or sticks are a great addition to this recipe and is sure to be a hit with you and yours.
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