Description
Lucious squid ink linguine tossed in a silky white wine tomato and garlic crab sauce (Italian granchio blu). Based on a Venetian crab pasta dish from one of our favorite restaurants here in Venice (Antiche Carampane), this simple crab pasta uses just 9 ingredients (plus salt) and is ready in 25 minutes or less!
*Not a fan of squid ink pasta? Use regular linguine or any other pasta substitute below!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 12 ounces Antico Pastificio Morelli squid Ink linguine (320g) (substitute regular linguine or spaghetti or fettuccine)
- 8 ounces blue crab meat, fresh or frozen (225g) (substitute store-bought tubs of crab meat or tinned crab meat)
- 3 to 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, or to taste (45-60g)
- 1 large shallot, finely minced (substitute yellow or white onion)
- 2 garlic cloves, smashed or more or less to taste
- 1 to 2 whole dried chili peppers, optional but recommended (omit if desired, or sub chili pepper flakes)
- 7 ounces sweet grape tomatoes (about 24), blanched and skins removed (200g) (sub tomato passata or canned tomatoes)
- 3 1/2 ounces (or 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) dry white wine (100g) (i.e. Pecorino, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Garganega, Pino Gris, Pinot Bianco)
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley, or more or less to taste (5g)
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Blanch the tomatoes. *Skip this step if you’re short on time and instead halve the tomatoes and set aside. Score the tomatoes using a small knife and add them to a pot of boiling water for 45 seconds to 1 minute, or until the skins start to peel away from the flesh. Remove them to a plate or bowl reserving the water to cook the pasta. Once tomatoes are cool enough to handle, remove and discard the skins and set them aside.
- Sauté the aromatics. In a skillet set over medium heat, add the olive oil, shallots, garlic, and chili peppers and sauté for about 5 minutes, or until shallots are tender but not browned and the garlic is fragrant and blistered.
- Add the tomatoes. Add the tomatoes, season with salt, smash them down using a fork to break them up, and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Deglaze the pan with wine. Add the wine, stir everything until combined, and cook for 3 minutes to evaporate the alcohol. Add an extra tablespoon (15g) of olive oil if desired and give everything a stir.
- Cook the pasta. Add the linguine to a pot of boiling salted water and cook until al dente according to package directions (in my case 6 minutes).
- Finish the crab sauce. While the pasta is boiling, add the crab meat, season with salt if needed, and stir the sauce to combine. *If you haven’t timed the pasta to be ready just as the sauce is ready, turn off the heat to the sauce while you wait for the pasta to finish cooking which will keep it from getting too dry.
- Finish the pasta. Add about 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of starchy pasta cooking water to the crab sauce and stir to combine. Adjust seasoning to taste, Add the strained pasta and the parsley, and toss well to coat, serve immediately, Enjoy!
Notes
- If you want a looser (saucier) sauce, you can do this two ways: increase the number of tomatoes by about 12 grape tomatoes (about 100g), or add a little more starchy pasta cooking water, but be careful not to add too much of the starchy water because you don’t want to over-dilute the crab sauce.
- If you use shelf-stable tinned crab meat (the kind found near cans of tuna), it doesn’t taste anything like the crab meat sold in the little plastic tubs found in the refrigerated case or frozen crab legs so the flavor and texture of the finished pasta will be completely different.
- Use spider crab, snow crab, king crab, or blue crab meat for this recipe.
- For crab pasta with chunky pieces of crab in it, use jumbo lump crab meat only or crab leg meat.
- Substitute the black linguine (squid ink linguine) with regular linguine, whole wheat linguine, tagliatelle, tagliolini (thinner tagliatelle), spaghetti, or fettuccine which all taste great!
- Make a creamy crab sauce by adding 1/4 to 1/2 cup (60g-120g) heavy cream or half and half and 1 to 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter (15g-30g) after you add the crab meat. Cook until the mixture has reduced to your liking, then add the pasta plus a little starchy cooking water, toss everything together, and remove from the heat. Wait 30 seconds then sprinkle with Grana Padano or Parmigiano cheese and parsley, then toss until well combined. Use reserved pasta cooking water to loosen up the sauce if desired. Once you add the cheese, do not turn the heat back on or the cheese will seize up and become stringy instead of smooth and silky. Serve your creamy crab pasta immediately!
- If you’re short on time, skip blanching the tomatoes. I like to do this because you don’t bite down on tomato peels, but it’s up to you.
- Make it a mixed seafood pasta. Add shrimp, lobster, or pan-seared sea scallops if desired. (See main post for links to those recipes).
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 of recipe
