Crab and White Wine Pasta

I'mPat's Note:

I am on the look out for easy crab recipes for when we go on holiday next year and we usually are eating crab at least once if not two or three times a day. This one is from Australian Good Food and submitted by a reader.

• Total Time: 35 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 400 g trofie pasta
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 20 g butter
• 500 g cherry tomatoes (or grape or tear drop tomatoes)
• 3 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
• 1 cup dry white wine (250ml)
• 300 ml light cream
• 140 g crabmeat
• 1/2 bunch basil (leaves finely sliced)
• 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese (grated)

Directions:

1. Cook pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water according to packet direction and then drain BUT reserving 1/4 cup of cooking water and then return pasta to pan.
2. Meanwhile heat oil and butter in a large frying pan on medium, until butter is foaming and add tomatoes and garlic and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until tomatoes begin to soften.
3. Using back of a spoon, lightly crush tomatoes to release juices and add wine and simmer, stirring occasionalyy, for 15 minutes, until sauce thickens slightly and season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Add cream, crabmeat and reserved cooking water and simmer, stirring gently, for 1 to 2 minutes until heated through and then stir through basil.
5. Add sauce to pasta and gently toss to combine and divide pasta between serving bowls, scatter over parmesan and serve.

Reviews

[FutureChoppedChamp]

Loved the recipe but tweaked it a little bit based on what I had on hand and to add a little more flavor. I didn't have white wine so I substituted 1 cup of water with 1 1/2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar. Because I used water here I didn't use the water from the pasta in the sauce. I added red bell peppers and onions to the tomatoes and garlic that were cooked in the butter and oil. I added paprika, basil, and a little garlic powder to the sauce before the cream was added. To make the sauce thick I used heavy cream (half of the amount this recipe called for) and turned up the heat and brought it to a rolling boil for a few minutes, then reduced the heat added the crab meat and let it simmer until it thickened a bit. Then remove from heat and let sit for a few minutes before adding to pasta to add more thickness to the sauce.

[The Flying Chef]

This recipe made exactly as is, is worth a definite 4 stars but with a few very minor tweeks it is definitely a 5 star recipe and more. I followed the directions but did not think the sauce thickened up much at all, so I added the cream and even after this it did not thicken, so I thickened with cornstarch. I then tasted and found it to be very white winey in taste, which did surprise me as cooking it down with the tomatoes usually scales that back. I decided to add 4 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese to the sauce, a good slug of freshly ground black pepper and the juice of half a small lemon. After this it was totally awesome I absolutely loved the flavour combination and you can see that apart from the lemon all the ingredients are listed in the recipe, I just added a little extra. I used perino tomatoes as I love these in pasta dishes as does my DS. My whole family thought that the pasta was gorgeous and the crab along with the other ingredients just went so well and I always love fresh basil in pasta. I was happy I tried this one, I have been fishing lately and have been catching mud crabs on my line. I knew Pat always has lots of yummy crab recipes to choose from so went straight away to look and see. There are a few more I want to try so if I catch any more I may be back. As for this recipe it is a definite keeper and others may not find the white wine taste strong at all but if so just add a little parmesan to the sauce and it totally calms it down. Thanks so much for sharing such a yummy recipe Pat!!!