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This dish is quicker – and tastier – than take away. Increase, or decrease, the amount of chilli, capers or lemon to suit your taste. The key to this recipe is to have everything ready to go, as it all comes together at the very end.
INGREDIENTS:
½ cup extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for dressing
2 small garlic cloves, finely sliced
1 long green chilli, seeds removed and finely diced
500g spaghettini
300g cooked crabmeat (see Note)
½ bunch chervil, leaves and stems roughly chopped
½ bunch dill sprigs, fronds picked and roughly chopped
½ bunch flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and finely chopped
1 cup curly endive (frisee) leaves, removed from thick stalks, and finely shredded
50g unsalted butter, diced
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
METHOD:
Heat the oil in a high sided frypan over low-medium heat. Add the garlic and chilli. Cook very gently – you do not want the garlic to brown.
Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling salted water until al dente.
Just before the pasta has finished cooking, add the crabmeat to the oil. Cook for 1 minute.
Lift pasta out of the water using tongs (reserving the cooking water) and add to the frying pan with the crab. Add all the herbs, the lemon zest and juice, and the butter and toss well to coat in the sauce, adding a little of the reserved pasta cooking water if necessary to give a creamy consistency.
NOTES:
Pick meat from 1 x 800g cooked Mud Crab, 2 x 300g cooked Blue Swimmer Crabs or 2 x 400g Spanner Crabs. Alternatively, buy good quality frozen Australian crabmeat. We use Ceas crabmeat which is already picked and can be purchased in small 100g pouches, both cooked and uncooked.
Check it carefully for any remaining bits of cartilage or shell and drain it well. Be aware that most other frozen crab meat is imported and can be quite watery when thawed. Remove Crab meat from fridge about 30 minutes before you start cooking, to allow it to come to room temperature.
ALTERNATIVE SPECIES:
Cooked Prawns.