Author Notes
This is the closest I can get to a culinary heirloom. Growing up it was just me and my Dad And this is his signature dish. It pretty much sums up his palate, a Baltimorean with a serious love of Italian food. If you ask him it's just crab, pasta, garlic, wine and olive oil. But every time I tried that it didn't taste as subtle as I recalled. So I've added more butter than my Dad would allow and a touch of cream and few other minor tweaks and it now tastes like what I remember. And I'm glad to have finally figured it out. —Summer of Eggplant
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Ingredients
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1 lb.
Lump or Jumbo Lump Crab
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1 lb.
wide pasta such as fettuccine or tagliatelle
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3/4 cup
dry white wine - I use Spanish whites Albarino or Verdejo
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1/4 cup
cream
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6 tablespoons
unsalted butter - divided
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4 tablespoons
olive oil - divided
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6 tablespoons
shallots - chopped
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6 tablespoons
leeks
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1/2 cup
parmesan - grated
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1/2
lemon
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salt + pepper
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medium pinch
crushed red pepper
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3 tablespoons
parsley - chopped
Directions
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Heat 3 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan over a medium heat. Add the leeks and shallots and salt and pepper. They do not want to take on color so if they start to char add a little of the wine so they steam a little. When the leeks and shallots begin to become translucent, about 3-5 minutes, add in 1/2 of the wine and reduce.
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Boil heavily salted water for the pasta. Cook the pasta for 10 minutes or as directed on the box for al dente.
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Once the wine has reduced by half add in crab and saute, salt again to taste as needed. Once the crab has been heated, again about 3-5 minutes add in remaining wine, butter and red pepper, cook for another 3 minutes. Add in cream, heat to warm.
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Drain pasta and toss with remaining olive oil. To serve family style layer the pasta, crab sauce, parmesan and parsley in a wide bowl. Squeeze lemon juice on top and lightly toss.
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