Seafood Casserole For Christmas Eve From The Farmhouse - cooking recipe

Ingredients

The Main Thing
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 (4 ounce) cans mushroom stems and pieces, drained
Roux
2/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic (1 clove pressed)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper (optional)
Sauce
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can cream of shrimp soup or (10 3/4 ounce) can cream of celery soup
2 cups milk
Some More Main Thing Ingredients
2 lbs frozen shrimp, thawed (cooked, tails off)
1 (16 ounce) package frozen imitation crabmeat, thawed
1 (8 ounce) can water chestnuts, sliced, drained
Topping
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Serve With
French bread, sliced, garlic-buttered

Preparation

Melt butter over medium-high heat; saute green pepper, onion, and celery until tender (5 minutes?); stir in mushrooms.
Sprinkle flour over veggies, stir and cook for ONE minute; add garlic and remaining Roux ingredients.
Whisk in the Sauce ingredients; cook for ONE minute, until thickened.
Preheat oven to 350; grease a 13x9 pan.
Combine remaining Main Thing ingredients in the cake pan, pour sauce over and toss lightly to coat.
Combine Topping ingredients in a small bowl, sprinkle evenly over the casserole.
Bake, uncovered for 30 minutes until bubbly.
At the last 15 minutes, pop in a loaf of sliced and garlicky-buttered French bread (wrapped in foil for optimum delicious-ness).