Italian Crab And Pasta Recipes

ITALIAN CRAB AND PASTA

Steps:

• Pour olive oil into a 12-inch frying pan (with sides at least 2 in. tall) or 6- to 8-quart pan over medium heat. When warm, add crabs in the shell and cook, stirring occasionally, until juices leak into pan, 5 to 7 minutes. With tongs, transfer crab pieces to a large serving bowl; cover and keep warm in a 200° oven.
• Add tomatoes (including juice), garlic, and basil to pan. With a wooden spoon, scrape any crab bits from bottom of pan. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Boil gently, uncovered, stirring occasionally and crushing tomatoes with a potato masher or spoon and reducing heat as sauce thickens, until sauce is thick and reduced to about 4 1/2 cups, about 30 minutes. Remove from heat. Spoon about a third of the sauce over crabs in the shell; cover loosely and return to oven.
• About 15 minutes before sauce is done, in a 6- to 8-quart pan over high heat, bring 3 to 4 quarts water to a boil. Add pasta, stir to separate, and cook just until barely tender to bite, 3 to 4 minutes for dried angel hair pasta, about 2 minutes for fresh linguine. Drain.
• Over low heat, add the shelled cooked crab to remaining tomato sauce; stir occasionally until hot, 1 to 2 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour drained pasta into sauce and mix well.
• Mound pasta in a wide, shallow serving bowl. Remove crab from oven and sprinkle both crab and pasta with parsley.

HEALTHY PASTA WITH SPICY CRAB

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook as the label directs until al dente. Reserve 1 cup cooking water, then drain the pasta.
• Meanwhile, heat the canola oil in a large high-sided saute pan over medium heat. Add the chiles and garlic and cook until soft and the garlic is pale golden brown, about 3 minutes. Add the wine and cook until reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add the crab and cook until just heated through, about 1 minute.
• Add the pasta and some of the cooking water to the pan and cook for another minute. Stir in the parsley, dill, mint and lemon zest. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

ITALIAN CRAB SEAFOOD PASTA SALAD

Steps:

• Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling, salted water until al dente, 10 to 12 minutes.
• Rinse, drain and set aside.
• Pick through crab discarding any pieces of shells.
• Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the crab, mayonnaise, buttermilk, onions, lemon juice, onion powder, garlic powder Old bay, parsley and pepper to taste.
• Add the pasta shells and mix again.
• Cover and chill overnight.
• Serve on lettuce leaves.

CREAMY PASTA WITH IMITATION CRAB

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.
• At the same time, heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic to the hot oil; cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in imitation crab and heat for 2 minutes.
• Begin cooking rotini. Add to the boiling water, stirring occasionally, until tender yet firm to the bite, about 8 minutes.
• While the pasta is cooking, stir half-and-half and parsley into the crab sauce; bring to a simmer. Continue to simmer crab sauce, adding pasta water as necessary, while pasta is finishing.
• Drain pasta.
• Mix Parmesan cheese into crab sauce and heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Serve over pasta.