Pappardelle with Crab & Zucchini
Pappardelle con Granchio e Zucchini
My sister Angela introduced me to this excellent combination in Venice. You can use any long pasta such as fettuccine or linguine as a substitute for pappardelle. I like to use frozen raw blue swimmer crab meat that is fairly easy to find from fishmongers or fish markets rather than cooked crab meat. …the raw meat poaches in the sauce which then becomes very silky and soft, but you can still use cooked crab meat if you cant find any raw. Also, for the zucchini you have the option to use mixed types or one variety. (I also include some zucchini flowers if they are in season)
Ingredients
Serves 4
500g of pappardelle
500g of raw crab meat (if frozen defrost first)
Extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon of dried chilli flakes
1 onion chopped
Rind of 1/2 lemon
1 kilo of zucchini (plain or mixed) chopped into 2cm pieces
250ml of cream
Method
Saute the onion in some olive oil in a fry pan until soft and lightly golden. Take out of pan
In the same pan, add more oil and fry the zucchini in batches until soft and golden
Put all the zucchini and onions back into the fry pan, adding chilli, salt and pepper to taste
Add the cream and gently simmer
Now, cook the pasta according to packet instruction in salted water and save 1 cup of pasta water for later
When the pasta has 3 minutes left to cook, add the raw crab meat to the zucchini sauce until opaque. This should only take a few minutes.
Once drained, combine the pasta with the sauce and add the cup of pasta water to emulsify
Dish out the pasta and sprinkle the lemon zest on top
This one is fantastic! Thanks Angie