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Pasta/Noodles

Linguine with Crab, Camelized Onions and Radicchio

Man, I love crab.  Of course I badly miss the amazing Dungeness crab that you find in the Pacific Northwest.  The sweetness of the Dungeness is truly awesome, especially with some sourdough bread…classic SF (if you’re there go to Acme).  Here in New England, the best crab you can find that is fairly close to home comes from Maryland (though that’s not exactly local).  The local Jonas and Rock crab that you find along the Maine coast and in southern New England states is smaller and the meat doesn’t hold together as the amazing jumbo lump crab that comes from the blue crabs does.

Living in the Bay area, it was always a struggle to get Aimee interested in eating local crab any other way than with sourdough and a touch of mayo.  “Let’s incorporate it into a pasta,” I’d argue, but usually to no avail.  It was hard to argue though, this way of eating crab is divine.

So last night, since I was buying, I set out to produce a dish that contrasted flavors using crab and creating a larger dish – incorporating it into a pasta.  I knew the flavor combinations I was looking for: spicy (lots of crushed red pepper), savory (crab and garlic) and a bit of sweetness (caramelized onion).  There was even some bitterness from the radicchio.  The result was something that tasted very Italian and worked well with dry linguine, as opposed to fresh.

The basis of this recipe comes from Mario Batali’s awesomely simple cookbook Molto Italiano – which I’ve been way into since reading Bill Buford’s book Heat.  Molto Italiano focuses on delicious recipe combinations typically using only a few ingredients.  What’s great about these recipes is that it makes traditional Italian dishes like Arancini and fresh pasta seem accessible to the home cook – which they should be.  I basically followed this pretty close, but the caramelized onions were my addition.  Here’s how it went down:

• 3/4 lb. crab meat – blue, dungeness or Alaska king crab recommended
• 1 lb. dry Linguine
• 1 small head or 1/2 a large head of radicchio – shredded thin
• 1 large yellow onion – sliced into fairly thick (1/2″) half moons (for caramelizing)
• 5 cloves garlic – diced
• 4 scallions – chopped on the bias
• 1-2 Tbsp. crushed red pepper – adjust depending on your spice tolerance
• 3 shallots – sliced fairly thin, but not diced
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil – 1/4 cup for the onions and 1/4 cup for the overall dish
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 1.5 cups dry white wine
• Salt to taste
• Squeeze of lemon juice on top

Start by doing caramelized onions – and prep the rest of your ingredients while your onions are going.

In a heavy pan or pot over low-medium heat, add 1/4 cup of the olive oil, onions and a pinch of salt, and brown them slowly, stirring every once in a while as to keep them from burning.  This should take 20-25 minutes and will result in a deep brown, super sweet onion.  Once they’re good to go, remove them from the heat and set aside.

Next, start the water for the pasta: in a large pot, add water and a solid 1-2 Tbsp. of salt and bring to a boil.  Add the pasta and cook until JUST al dente – don’t overcook!

While that’s going, put together the rest of the dish: Heat a fairly large pan over medium high heat and add the oil – it should be almost to the smoking point.  Add the shallots, garlic and red pepper and sautee until the shallots and garlic become golden brown, about 3 minutes.  Add in the wine and bring to a boil, this will happen fairly quickly.  Let the wine cook off for about a minute and then add the butter.  Stir in the butter as it’s melting and lower the heat on the pan to low.  At some point when the pasta is done, drain it but be sure to reserve a little bit of the pasta water.

Add in the pasta, crab, shallots, carmelized onions and scallions to the wine mixture and toss to combine, adding in a little bit (1Tbsp. or so) of the pasta water.  Finish with a splash of lemon juice and serve – top with a little lemon zest if you want too.  Enjoy!

Serves 6 (or 8 as a first course)

Tags: Crab, Pasta/Noodles