Venetian-Style Crab Pasta

Ingredients

• 400 g spaghetti or tagliatelle
• 300 g white crab meat, fresh or frozen and defrosted
• 200 g brown crab meat, fresh or frozen and defrosted
• 5 garlic cloves, finely sliced
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped
• 150 ml dry white wine
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 15g flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• salt and black pepper
• Crusty ciabatta, to serve
• Dressed rocket salad with shaved parmesan, to serve

Method

1. Bring a large pot of water to the boil and salt it generously — it should taste like the sea. This is your only chance to season the pasta itself. Drop in the spaghetti and cook to just shy of al dente per the packet, reserving a big mug of pasta water before you drain.
2. While the pasta cooks, warm the olive oil in a wide pan over medium heat. Add the sliced garlic and chilli and let them sizzle gently for 60–90 seconds until fragrant and pale gold — watch it, don't let the garlic brown. Burnt garlic turns the whole sauce bitter and there's no rescuing it.
3. Pour in the white wine and let it bubble for 2 minutes, scraping any flavour off the base of the pan, until the sharp alcohol smell has burned off and the liquid looks glossy.
4. Stir in the brown crab meat and break it down into the wine for a minute until it melts into a rich, savoury base the colour of toffee. Season with a pinch of salt and a good crack of pepper.
5. Lift the pasta straight from its water into the pan with a generous splash of the cooking liquid. Toss hard over medium heat — the starchy water and the crab fat emulsify into a silky sauce that coats every strand. Add the white crab meat, the lemon zest, and most of the parsley, tossing gently so the white meat stays in pearly flakes rather than shredding.
6. Pull the pan off the heat and stir in the lemon juice — the acid lifts the sweetness of the crab and sharpens everything you've just built. Loosen with more pasta water if it looks tight; you want it glossy, not claggy.
7. Taste, season, taste again. Adjust the salt now — at the end, not at the table.
8. Twirl the pasta into shallow bowls, scatter the remaining parsley over the top, and serve with lemon wedges, crusty ciabatta, and a dressed rocket salad with shaved parmesan alongside.