Crab Tomato Spaghetti

This crab tomato spaghetti was my sumptuous lunch for one. This is the second out of three crab recipes I’ll be posting this week, the first was the Chinese crabmeat omelette that I posted a few days ago.

See Also:

• 15-minute Crabmeat Omelette Recipe
• Cherry Tomato & Scallop Pasta Recipe
• Crab Egg Drop Soup Recipe

See Also:

• More Easy Crabmeat Recipes
• Easy One-dish Meals

My plate of spaghetti has baby spinach, cherry tomato & of course generous crab meat in it. It tastes seafood fresh, buttery and mildly spicy – just the way I love my spaghetti.

STEP-BY-STEP PHOTOS

Before these photos were taken, I cooked the spaghetti in a pot of salted water until al dente. Then I drained the pasta and reserved a small cup of pasta water.

Heat olive oil & add cherry tomatoes. Don’t move them around much. When the cherry tomatoes skin starts to blister as shown above…

… push the cherry tomatoes to the side. Add garlic and remaining olive oil. Fry the garlic …

… until they just start to turn golden brown. Then add crabmeat & butter…

… as well as chilli (or chilli flakes) if you like some heat & a small squeeze of lemon juice.

Add the cooked pasta, another knob of butter and crab broth (from my bottle of crabmeat). If you don’t have crab broth, substitute with a rich (tetra-pak) chicken broth or use the reserved pasta water…

When the spaghetti is nicely combined, add a generous handful of baby spinach.

Let the spinach wilt in the heat and the pasta is done.

To serve, drizzle a lug of evoo and crack some black pepper over the pasta.

Print

Crab Tomato Spaghetti Recipe

This is the crabmeat I am using for this recipe. You can use any favourite quality brand of crabmeat that is fresh tasting and clean.

Check out the step-by-step photos on the previous page.

Serves: 1

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 12 mins

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp salt
• 1 serving spaghetti (80g)
• 1 tsp + 1/2 tbsp olive oil divided
• 10 cherry tomatoes
• 4 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 1 chilli pepper sliced thinly; optional
• 100g crabmeat thaw if using frozen; excess liquid squeezed 
• 10 + 10g unsalted butter divided
• 6 drops lemon juice
• 2.5 tbsp crab broth or rich chicken (tetra-pak) broth
• reserved pasta water 1 tbsp at a time; if needed
• generous handful baby spinach
• a lug of extra-virgin olive oil (evoo)
• freshly cracked black pepper
• lemon wedge
• pinch of salt to taste

Directions:

1. Cook the spaghetti. Bring a pot of water with 2 tsp salt to a boil. Add spaghetti and cook until al dente, taking off 2-3 minutes off the recommended cooking time on packaging. Drain pasta and set aside. Reserve a small cup of pasta cooking water.
2. Cook aromatics, cherry tomatoes and crab. Heat 1 tsp olive oil in a pan and add the cherry tomatoes. Let the tomatoes cook without moving them. When the tomato skin starts to blister, push them to the side of the pan. Add the garlic and the remaining olive oil on the other half of the pan. Cook until the garlic is starting to turn golden. Add chilli (if using) and pan fry everything in the pan together briskly until aromatic.
3. Add crab meat, 10g butter and a tiny pinch of salt. Pan fry until the crab is cooked (if the crab meat you use is already cooked, you only need to warm it up).
4. Add drained pasta, remaining butter, lemon juice and crab (or chicken) broth. Toss to coat everything together, adding reserved pasta water if still too dry, 1 tbsp at a time, to bind the pasta together.
5. Add the baby spinach and let it wilt into the hot pasta.
6. To serve, dish out to a plate. Serve with an extra lug of evoo, freshly cracked pepper and a wedge of lemon.

Ingredients Used: baby spinach • butter • cherry tomato • chicken broth • chilli • chilli padi • crab • crab broth • extra virgin olive oil • garlic • lemon • lump crab • olive oil • spaghetti