Chilli, tomato and crab linguine recipe
Crab linguine is a classic Italian dish prepared simply with chilli, tomatoes, white wine, parsley and lemon for a fresh flavour which lets the sweet crabmeat sing. It's topped with pangrattato, which means ‘breadcrumbs’ in Italian and is often referred to as the poor man’s Parmesan. It’s a perfect crunchy topping for pasta.
Ingredients
- 2 slices of slightly stale sourdough
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 lemon, zest and juice
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 220 g dried linguine
- 150 g baby cherry tomatoes, halved
- 0.5 red chilli, deseeded and finely diced
- 150 g fresh white crabmeat
- 50 ml white wine
- 1 handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 1 pinch each of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Details
- Cuisine: Italian
- Recipe Type: Pasta
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 10 mins
- Cooking Time: 20 mins
- Serves: 2
Step-by-step
- In a food processor, blitz up the sourdough slices until they are breadcrumbs. Tip them into a bowl and add one of the crushed garlic cloves, the lemon zest and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Mix together well and then season with salt and pepper.
- Heat up a frying pan (skillet) over a medium heat and tip in the oil-coated breadcrumbs. Fry them for 2-3 minutes until they turn golden brown and crispy. Tip out of the pan and into a bowl, setting aside for later.
- Put a large pan of salted water on to boil. When it is boiling, add your linguine and cook according to the packet instructions, ensuring it maintains a little bite.
- While the pasta is cooking, get a large frying pan over a medium heat and drizzle in 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
- Add the remaining crushed garlic clove, the cherry tomatoes and chilli to the hot oil and fry for 3 minutes, letting the garlic turn lightly golden and the tomatoes collapse and soften.
- Next add the crabmeat, letting it fry in the oils for a minute before adding the lemon juice and white wine. Allow the liquid to sizzle and cook down for an additional minute.
- The pasta should be ready now. Use a mug to reserve a cup of the starchy pasta water, then use tongs to lift the cooked linguine out of its pan and straight into the crab pan. As soon as the pasta hits the pan, add a splash of the pasta water and toss it all together to make a silky sauce, coating everything evenly.
- Take the pan off the heat and add most of the parsley and some seasoning. If it is looking a little dry, then toss some more pasta water through it while it is still hot.
- Serve the linguine in bowls topped with the lemon pangrattato and some additional chopped parsley sprinkled over the top.
This recipe is from Foolproof Fish by Libby Silbermann (Quadrille, £12.99). Photography ©Rita Platts.
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