Using ingredients like fresh crab helps make quick-cook meals a bit more exciting. This is so simple: while the pasta is cooking you make the sauce using the flavoursome brown crab meat, and then stir the white crab meat through at the end.
SERVES 2
240g dried linguine
1 tbsp olive oil
20g butter
1 banana shallot, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
80g brown crab meat
1 tbsp tomato purée
100ml dry white wine
150ml single cream
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
100g white crab meat
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1–2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped, to finish
1. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil. Add the linguine, stir well and cook for 10–12 minutes until al dente or ‘just cooked’.
2. Meanwhile, put a medium sauté pan over a medium-high heat and add the olive oil and butter. When the butter is melted and foaming, add the shallot and cook for 1 minute, then add the garlic and chilli. Stir well and sauté for another minute or so.
3. Now add the brown crab meat and tomato purée and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Deglaze the pan with wine and let it bubble until reduced by half. Pour in the cream, bring the sauce to a simmer and let it simmer for 2–3 minutes. Taste the sauce for seasoning and add the lemon zest.
4. As soon as the pasta is cooked, use tongs to lift it from the saucepan and place it directly in the sauce. Add a good half-ladleful of the pasta cooking water too. Toss the pasta in the sauce, using the tongs, until it’s completely coated. There should be some thickened sauce in the pan but most of the sauce will be soaked up by the hot pasta.
5. Stir through the white crab meat and divide the linguine between warmed pasta bowls. Sprinkle over the chopped parsley and get stuck into this creamy and luxurious pasta dish straight away!