Crab Linguine & Albarino (A summer hit)
Its Saturday lunch time, its 28 degrees, hunger is kicking in rapidly and I'm nursing a slightly heavy head bought on by a bad case of the "Gins" on Friday night, yeah a slight hangover if I'm honest.
I wanted something fresh, but with a kick of flavour, a hit of spice but I also needed to top up on some vino collapso as the blood in my alcohol stream was making me feel rough as a badgers backside!
I went down to the local fish monger in Milford-on-sea and picked up a lovely dressed crab which would be big enough for two portions and then I ducked into my local wine merchant "The Cave" again in Milford-on-sea and picked myself up a bottle of Alarino which is a heart white wine which could hold up against the flavours of the pasta but equally compliment them and not over or even under whelm the dish.
Here's the shopping list of whats needed:
* 1 large dressed crab (British obviously)
* Linguine (I used dried as I find it keeps its shape and texture)
* Parsley bunch
* Garlic
* Extra virgin olive oil
* Dried chilli flakes
* Salt and pepper
* Half a lemon
* A large glass of Alarino (This is to drink while cooking, a tip I learnt from the late great Keith Floyd)
This is the finished dish:
Now let me talk you through the cooking of this fine piece of culinary genius, even if I do say so myself! lol
Let's get cooking:
1. Bring a pan of water to a boil and season heavily, when I say heavily I mean so that its as salty and the Mediterranean Sea. That's the way the late Antonio Carluccio done it and if its good enough for him then us mir mortals can't argue. I also add a really good glug of olive oil to the water which I have always done.
2. Cook the pasta removing a minute or two prior to it being totally done, it needs to have a slight bite to it or Al dente. Drain in a colander holding back a few spoon fulls of the water and toss/coat the linguine with some extra virgin olive oil.
3. Finely chop the parsley (a large bunch), chop 2 cloves of garlic and mix in with the parsley and chop again.
Season with plenty of black pepper and a pinch of salt, this is called a persillade
4. Heat 6 table spoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil gently in a pan and add the persillade and sprinkle in some of the chilli flakes make it as hot as you like I do around half a teaspoon.
Now add in the crab meat which I use mainly white with a little of the brown meat and gently toss together.
Cooking gently for a few minutes moving the sauce around.
5. Now add the pasta and a little of the cooking water, toss a bit more and then serve with a bloody good squeeze of lemon which I tend to use as the third seasoning in most dishes, give the dish a final pinch of fresh parsley to finish.
Have this dish with a chilled glass of albarino and enjoy it.
Drop me a comment and let me know any dishes you would like for me to cook and share on here.
Get cooking,
The Sartorial Yeti out xx
