Crab Angel Hair Pasta
Serves: 2
Time: 30 mins
Regular pasta doesn’t feature that often in our house. Pasta dinners are too carb-heavy for my liking but I make an exception occasionally for this dish as I Love Love Love it! It is so frickin delicious that I would go as far as suggesting that you could do this dinner when you want to entertain a small group of guests with minimal fuss.
Leftovers
I am not shy with this dish. I will literally lick the bowl clean, so don’t be expecting any leftovers tonight. Instead, you have the option to cook extra pasta and add some tinned chilli tuna and light greens for your lunch tomorrow.
It's the crab that makes it
Crab is one of the few items that I use that isn't so easy for people to source - sorry. If you have a really good local fresh fish store it's worth asking as it's generally kept in the frozen section. Preferably get the raw meat if you can, either blue swimmer crab meat or spanner crab meat. Sydneysiders - you're spoilt for choices for where to source, but if you don't want to go searching then head straight to the fish markets and go to Claudio's (big red sign outside on the right hand side). They sell 100g packets in the freezer for $9.99 so stock up. Woolworths also stock it in the freezer section but I have never tried it so...
What you'll need
1/2 packet angel hair spaghetti (the really thin stuff or spaghettini #3)
100g fresh crab meat
8 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup chopped curly parsley
1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
3 large hot red chillies
1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
zest of half the lemon and juice of the whole lemon
35g butter
1/4 cup of olive oil
loads of fresh grated Parmesan
Optional Extras for Lunch
1 small bag of mixed leaves
1 packet of cherry tomatoes
1 extra lemon
Live a little
This is not a dish to be mean on...so don't question the quantity of butter or scrimp on the parmesan, just enjoy every mouthful knowing the rest of the week is clean and healthy.
From the pantry
sea salt
cracked pepper
Prep and Cook
Prep Garlic and Chilli (otherwise known as Aglio e Olio)
Peel and finely chop the garlic and place in a small mixing bowl with 1/4 cup of olive oil.
Slice chillies in half and remove seeds (add the seeds if you like things hot). Slice chilli lengthways then into a fine dice and add to the oil.
Wash and roughly chop the curly parsley removing any large stalks. Add to the mix.
Wash and pick just the leaves off the flat leaf parsley and roughly chop. Add half to the mix and set half aside for garnishing.
Add dried chilli flakes and the zest of half your lemon.
Mix well.
Set aside.
Cook Pasta
Ordinarily, I would have you put the water on first, but you need to give the oil some time to infuse. So while you wait for the water to boil why not get your table set and plates ready and read through the rest of the recipe as you want to execute the next stages with speed and precision. If you want to go next level warm your plates up in the microwave.
Fill a large pot with water and bring to boil with a good pinch of salt.
Once boiling, drop your pasta in, stirring for a while so that it doesn’t stick together and cook for 5 minutes or till al dente.
Remove the pot from the heat.
While the pasta is cooking…
Cook Crab
Heat a LARGE non-stick frypan on high heat.
Add the chilli mix (aglio e olio) and gently cook for a minute.
Add your butter. Once it has melted and started to bubble up, add the crab meat, working gently till the meat turns creamy white (approx 1 minute).
Season well with sea salt and cracked pepper, and add the juice of your lemon swilling the pan.
Use a pair of tongs to transfer your cooked pasta into the frypan, this way you’ll be getting some of the cooking water at the same time.
Toss really well (if you think it looks too dry add about a 1/4 cup of the pasta water, you need your pan to keep its heat so if you have been working a bit slow you might need to let this liquid come back up to a bubble). Check seasoning this dish can take a lot of pepper.
Serve straight away.
Sprinkle over the rest of your rough chopped flat leaf parsley and loads of grated fresh Parmesan.
Enjoy!
Optional Extra
A super simple salad of mixed leaves, sliced cherry toms and fresh squeezed lemon, to cut the richness.
Want to eat delicious dinners every week?
Lunch Tomorrow
If you cook the entire packet of pasta, just remember not to toss it all through your delicious crab mix and instead put half of it aside to go with the tuna. The last thing you want is to accidentally add the entire amount of pasta to the crab, as the ratios would be all wrong and the wow factor would be lost.