Oh Canada! Mmm.. Mmmm...
I am lucky to live on Vancouver Island, we have some of the freshest seafood around and it doesn't get any fresher then when you catch the main ingredient yourself! The crab from this dish came from the waters of one of my favourite places: Port Renfrew. The cool waters of the harbour at Port Renfrew are prime crabbing ground; especially during the late winter but also all year round. I absolutely love the Ocean and the beach so in honour of our 142nd Canada Day I created this dish. All red and white and filled with a local Canadian delicacy; dungeness crab.
This dish was delicious and quite simple to put together, I added sun dried tomato for some depth and also so it would complement the sweet crab flavour; and then topped it off with lots of Parmesan cheese for richness. Here is the recipe:
Oh! and don't worry, you don't need to catch the crab yourself; just make sure that you do use the fresh stuff that can be bought from the seafood counter, or your local fish monger. There really isn't room here for the canned stuff!
First things first! Create a crab stock, you only really need about 2 cups.
It is important if you can to cook the crab in the water that it came in, if not have it cleaned and halved and boil it for only a few minutes until it turns a deep shade of red. Cool and shell the crab, I tried to keep a few of the claw pieces intact for a garnish, but the rest will taste great no matter how it looks! Put the shell pieces into a clean pot of fresh water, about 4 - 5 cups; bring to a simmer and reduce until you have roughly 2 cups. You can add any vegetables that you would normally add to a stock, but in all honesty what your after is a deeper crab flavour for the pasta sauce.
I box of Spagettini (or enough for 4 ppl)
1 medium onion
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
3/4 Cup sun dried tomatoes
1 Cup Heavy Cream
1-2 Cups of crab stock
1 Cup of Parmesan
Meat from 2 crabs
3 lemons
S&P
1 handful parsley
Once the stock is ready you can throw enough spagettini for 4 people in a pot and cook until al dente. In the mean time saute 1 medium onion in 2 table spoons of butter, once the onion is softened add 2 tablespoons of flour to create a roux. I actually cook onions with a little bit of water in the pan, it helps to create a more even heat for the onions and encourages them to caramelize, so I would add the flour after the water has evaporated and the onions begin to brown. Once the roux has browned add 3/4 cup of sun dried tomatoes, I used regular dried tomatoes (not in oil, but you can if you want), just slice them and throw them in as well as the zest and juice of 1 lemon. Add 1 Cup of the crab stock and 1 cup of heavy cream to create a sauce, at this time you can add both the crab meat and the pasta. Toss it all together with 1 cup of Parmesan cheese and the juice of another lemon. Feel free to add more Crab stock depending of the consistency, you want a nice rich and thick sauce that coats each and every noodle. Serve topped with extra Parmesan cheese, fresh chopped parsley, a wedge of lemon and an extra knuckle of crab right on top.
You are going to love this fun and festive meal! Make sure that you take a nice big bite with a little bit of everything so that all of those beautiful flavours dance in your mouth together.
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