Simple yet elegant, this Crab Spaghetti is pure comfort food with a high brow touch—because who doesn’t find comfort in twirling pasta around the big old clumps of sweetly lush lump crab.
If there’s one thing you want to eat in it’s lumpiest form, it’s crab. Take my word for it.
Crab can sometimes feel a little intimidating to make. How do you
cook it? How do you crack it? And doesn’t it take forever to get that
meat out of those prickly sharp shells?
But in reality, whether it’s steamed in it’s long, lanky king crabby legs dripping with butter (this recipe is hands down the easiest way to fix it) or rolled into bite size appetizer bites like this, it’s incredibly easy to prepare.
Fear not, this Crab Spaghetti with Lemon Gremolata jumps from pan to
plate in about a half an hour. And I have just the tip to make it as
painless as possible to make cure your crabby cravings.
Butter, wine and lemon all combine to create a lush and flavorful
spaghetti noodle coating that has just a touch of heat with a sprinkling
of red pepper flakes.
Now those flavors aren’t hard to find in many a shellfish / pasta
dish, but what makes this recipe especially indulgent is the addition of
crunchy, garlicky bread crumbs with lemon and parsley that gives a
deceptively luxe crunch to this pretty simple meal.
It certainly raises the bar when you talk about shellfish.
Ingredients
For crab spaghetti
- 1 pound spaghetti
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ¾ cup white wine, Chardonnay
- 1 lemon, juiced
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 pound jumbo lump crab meat
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- kosher salt
For lemon and garlic gremolata
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 cups fresh sourdough bread crumbs
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest, from 1 medium lemon
Instructions
For crab spaghetti
- Cook spaghetti noodles according to package directions. Drain and reserve 1 cup cooking water.
- In large pan over medium high heat melt butter in olive oil. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly, until fragrant. Add white wine, lemon juice and red pepper flakes. Bring to boil and reduce to simmer and cook for 8 minutes. Add lump crab meat and hot spaghetti and stir to mix well. Add ½ cup of Parmesan and kosher salt; toss. Add ¼ cup of reserved cooking liquid at a time if the pasta needs more liquid. Top with Lemon and Garlic Gremolata and more Parmesan cheese and serve.
For lemon and garlic gremolata
- In medium fry pan, melt butter over medium high heat. Add bread crumbs and kosher salt. Stir to combine in butter. Toast bread crumbs for about 3-5 minutes, stirring occassionally. Be careful so crumbs don’t burn. Remove hot bread crumbs from heat and add in garlic, parsley and lemon zest. Stir to combine and add to top of Crab Spaghetti.
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