We’re on a food theme at the moment. Actually this is fairly normal for us over Easter; it seems to be a time for experimenting weith good gfood.
Waitrose’s Food magazine a while back had a recipe of Herby Crab & Tomato Spaghetti. I thought it looked worth trying if one wanted to push the boat out a bit and buy crab – although to be honest it isn’t that expensive.
As Waitrose don’t seem to put all their recipes online, here first is the original recipe.
Herby Crab & Tomato Spaghetti
Serves 2
Prepare 10 minutes
Cook 15 minutes
Ingredients
2 tbsp dried breadcrumbs
2 tbsp olive oil
180g dried spaghetti
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
12 cherry vine tomatoes, quartered
100g “Seafood & Eat It” Fifty Fifty Crab
¼x 20g pack tarragon, leaves only, roughly chopped
1 lemon, zest and juice
Method
1. Toast the breadcrumbs in 1 tbsp oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat until golden brown (about 3-4 minutes). Transfer to a plate. Bring a large pan of salted water to a rolling boil, then cook the spaghetti according to pack instructions.
2. Meanwhile, put the remaining 1 tbsp oil in the frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the garlic and chilli; cook for 2 minutes until fragrant. Add the tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes. Scoop the brown crabmeat into the pan. Transfer the pasta and 2 ladles of its cooking water to the pan. Toss vigorously for 1-2 minutes, until well coated. Add the white crab, tarragon, lemon juice and ½ the zest. Season, mix, then divide between warm plates. Top with the remaining zest and the breadcrumbs.
Well OK. That didn’t quite work for us so, as usual, I adapted it! This is what I did …
Linguine with Crab, Tomato & Herbs
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
165g dried linguine
2 large shallots, finely chopped
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
½ tsp dried chilli flakes
16 cherry tomatoes, left whole
2 tbsp tomato paste
2x 100g tubs white crabmeat
¼x 20g pack tarragon, leaves only, left whole
juice & zest of a lemon
black pepper
Method
- Cook the linguine according to pack instructions.
- Sweat the onion, garlic and chilli in a pan with the olive oil until going translucent (about 2-3 minutes).
- Add the tomatoes and cook for another couple of minutes.
- Add the crabmeat, followed by the drained pasta and 2 ladles of its cooking water. Toss/mix vigorously for a minute or so, until well coated.
- Now add the tomato paste, tarragon and lemon. Season with black pepper, mix well and warm through for another 1-2 minutes.
- Divide between two plates and enjoy with a glass of robust white wine.
Notes
- I can’t be doing with faffing around with breadcrumbs – not just for the two of us anyway.
- We used linguine, as it was to hand; I actually prefer it to spaghetti.
- Before this version, we’d tried using 50/50 brown & white crabmeat, but it didn’t quite work for us.
- 200g crabmeat is probably a bit too much, but 100g feels a bit too little as a single course (or the first of just two).
- Chilli flakes are fine; you want only a hint of chilli in the background. Our alternative would have been to excavate a Scotch Bonnet from the freezer and even a small one may have been too much.
- If you quarter the cherry tomatoes and cook them for 5 minutes they’ll just go to mush. We prefer them whole and not falling apart.
- In our view this needed some onion; and no shortage of garlic.
My version worked very well indeed. It was truly delicious. The tarragon and lemon came through nicely without being overpowering and there was just a hint of chilli. We accompanied it with a bottle of robust Italian Falanghina.
Oh, and no picture – you all know what a bowl of pasta looks like!