Crab Pasta with Tomatoes, Garlic, Chilli and Lemon
Sweet white crab with tomatoes, garlic, lemon, wine and chilli, loaded with fresh herbs. Serve with linguine, spaghetti or fettuccine, and perhaps a crisp salad and some ciabatta or fresh/garlic bread on the side. Fresh and zesty with a hint of chilli, this pasta sauce manages to be both light and delicate whilst packing a huge flavour punch at the same time. Hands down, Andrew’s favourite pasta ever!
Charlotte and I also adore crab pasta but Emma is not a fan of crab – texture issues apparently – frankly I do not understand how anybody doesn’t love this dish! Fortunately, the sauce without the crab makes a delicious vegetarian option. So on crab pasta nights, I simply remove a little of the sauce before I add the crab, and then add the lemon juice and herbs to both sauces simultaneously to finish them off before I serve them.
How to make Crab Pasta with Tomatoes, Garlic, Chilli and Lemon
Collect all your ingredients together:
- pasta
- extra-virgin olive oil
- cloves of garlic
- chilli flakes
- tomatoes
- honey
- lemon zest
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- white wine
- white crab meat
- lemon juice
- chopped fresh herbs, such as parsley, coriander, basil
Cook the pasta in salted water, according to packet instructions. Whilst the pasta cooks heat the olive oil over a moderate heat. When hot add the garlic, chilli flakes, tomatoes, lemon zest, honey, salt and pepper. Cook for a couple of minutes and then add the wine. Boil briefly to reduce a little. Set aside to allow the flavours to develop.
When the pasta has cooked, remove a cup of pasta cooking water, set aside and then drain the pasta.
Combine the crab sauce with the pasta and add some pasta water. Cook on a moderately high heat for 1 – 2 minutes, ensuring everything is piping hot and the sauce is coating the pasta. Turn the heat down and add the lemon juice and herbs. Stir well and remove from the heat. Taste the sauce and adjust seasoning if required.
Serve the crab pasta in individual warmed bowls, sprinkled with chopped herbs and a wedge of lemon. Serve with a green salad, with toasted ciabatta or fresh/garlic bread on the side to mop up the delicious juices.
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Crab Pasta with Tomatoes, Garlic, Chilli and Lemon
Sweet white crab with tomatoes, garlic, lemon, wine and chilli, loaded with fresh herbs. Serve with linguine, spaghetti or fettuccine, and perhaps a crisp salad and some garlic bread on the side. Fresh and zesty with a hint of chilli, this pasta sauce manages to be both light and delicate whilst packing a huge flavour punch at the same time.
Ingredients
Pasta:
- 350 – 400g dried pasta, (depending how hungry you are)
- 2 teaspoons fine salt
Crab sauce:
- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 16g/4 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- ¼ teaspoon chilli flakes
- 160g tomatoes, finely chopped
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1½ teaspoons honey
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
-
4 tablespoons white wine
- 275g white crab meat
- 6 – 8 tablespoons pasta water
- juice of 1 lemon
- 30g chopped fresh herbs, such as parsley, coriander, basil
Instructions
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The pasta: bring a large saucepan full of water to the boil.
-
When boiling add the salt and the dried pasta. Cook according to packet instructions and for 1 minute less than the recommended time, this is normally around 10 – 12 minutes.
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The crab: straight after putting the pasta on to cook, prepare the crab pasta sauce. Put the oil into a medium sized saucepan over a moderately high heat.
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When hot add the garlic, chilli flakes, tomatoes, lemon zest, honey, salt and pepper and fry for 2 minutes.
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Add the wine and boil for roughly 1 minute to reduce slightly. Take off the heat and allow the flavours to infuse whilst the pasta continues to cook.
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Meanwhile check to see if the pasta is cooked. Remove 1 cup of the pasta water and then drain well.
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Add the crab to the garlic and chilli mixture and stir well.
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Combine the pasta, pasta water, (1½ tablespoons pasta water per person) and the crab mixture and mix well. Cook on moderately high for 1 – 2 minutes, ensuring everything is piping hot and the sauce is coating the pasta.
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Turn the heat down and add the lemon juice and herbs.
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Stir well and remove from the heat. Taste the sauce and adjust seasoning if required.
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To serve: serve the crab pasta in individual warmed bowls, sprinkled with chopped chopped herbs, drizzled with very good quality olive oil and a wedge of lemon. Serve with a green salad, with toasted ciabatta or fresh/garlic bread on the side to mop up the delicious juices.
Recipe Notes
Equipment:
- Large and medium saucepans
- Chopping board and knife
- Kitchen scales and measuring spoons
- Grater
- Reamer/juicer
Pasta: any pasta will work with this dish. My favourite is linguine but fettuccine and spaghetti work really well too. I usually use dried pasta; you could also use fresh pasta but check the cooking times. It normally takes only 2 -3 minutes.
Crab sauce:
- this dish has a delicious spicy warmth to it. If you prefer milder flavours, feel free to reduce the amount of chilli or omit it altogether – it will still be delicious!
- equally, you could alter the amounts of garlic, lemon and herbs to suit your own palate.
- Rather than chopping the garlic, ginger, tomatoes and herbs I use my mini food processor.
- I peel and halve the garlic cloves and blitz until finely chopped. Remove from the processor.
- I then put all the herbs in and pulse until finely chopped. Remove from the processor.
- Finally, I even throw the tomatoes in to chop. Charlotte and I like the tomatoes in quite big chunks, chopped by hand, but Andrew and Emma like finely chopped – if I’m going for finely chopped, then I always use the processor.
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