Inexpensive (But Tasty) Imitation Seafood Bake

I love crab and lobster but I don't have the budget for it - so I have started buying imitation crab and lobster when it is on sale. I was playing around with it tonight and I really liked the result. I think you could make some changes to suit your tastes - but this was a good starting point for me. It started as a variation of creamed chipped beef and ended up here. I hope you like it. I think this would double pretty easily, but probably you would need larger pans.

• Ready In: 25 mins
• Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 8  ounces  imitation crabmeat, roughly chopped (I like the flake style crab)
• 4  tablespoons butter, divided
• 3  tablespoons flour
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt (to taste)
• 1  dash black pepper
• 1 -2  dash Tabasco sauce (optional)
• 2  cups milk (I used 2% and it was fine)
• 1⁄4 cup  shredded  white cheese (I used mozzarella, parmesan, and asiago)

Directions

1. In a 3 quart saucepan, melt 3 Tbsp butter medium heat. Add flour and stir until you have a pasty consistency. Add salt. Stirring constantly, bring to a light golden color.
2. Add the milk all at once, whisking to blend and then stir almost constantly to keep the milk from sticking to the bottom of the pan. It will thicken, though it may take a few minutes. While stirring, add as much pepper as you like (I use a few twists of a pepper grinder. Add a couple of dashes of Tobasco, if using. Once mixture has thickened, remove from heat. I like the thickness to be such that if I dip a butter knife into it, the sauce clings but no thicker. If you need to thin it out, just add a small amount of milk.
3. Melt remaining tablespoon of butter in a smaller skillet and stir fry the imitation crab or lobster for a few minutes until just a little browned. Don't overcook.
4. Add seafood to white sauce and stir. Pour mixture into an oven pan - I used an 8x8 glass pan. Sprinkle cheese over top and put under the broiler for a few minutes just until the cheese starts to have little brown spots on it.
5. I served it over a slice of homemade wheat bread - but I suspect it would be delicious over an english muffin or other bread.