Pazzo Blue Crab And Pasta Recipes

PAZZO BLUE CRAB AND PASTA

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a 16-inch fry or braising pan with high sides (3 inches) over medium heat. Saute garlic and shallots until opaque, 2 to 3 minutes.
• Add crabs in the shell and cook, stirring occasionally, until juices leak into pan and crabs are turning red, 5 to 7 minutes.
• Add the wine.
• Bring to a boil and cook for 2 more minutes, or until the wine has cooked off and juices have thickened.
• Lower heat.
• With tongs, transfer crab pieces to a large ovenproof serving bowl; cover and keep warm in a 200-degree oven.
• Add tomatoes (including juice) to pan.
• With a wooden spoon, scrape any crab bits from the bottom of the pan.
• Cover and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally.
• Lower heat.
• Add half of the cooked crabs, fresh herbs, red pepper flakes and salt and boil gently, uncovered, stirring occasionally and crushing tomatoes with a potato masher or spoon. Reduce heat as sauce thickens, until sauce is reduced to about 4 ½ cups, about 30 minutes. 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 the bite, about 6 minutes.
• Drain well.
• Add cooked pasta to the crab/tomato sauce pan and stir well.
• Add the fresh crabmeat (if using) and stir gently but thoroughly.
• Bring to a simmer over medium heat for about 2 to 3 minutes.
• Mound pasta in a wide, shallow serving bowl. Remove the remaining cooked crabs from the oven and arrange on top of the pasta.
• Sprinkle both crabs and pasta with parsley and serve.

SPAGHETTI WITH CRABS

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. When it begins to shimmer, add garlic and cook for 1 minute or until it is fragrant. Add the tomatoes, crushing them by hand as you do so, as well as the parsley and red-pepper flakes. Stir and allow to come to a simmer.
• Turn the heat up to high and add the crabs. When the sauce starts to boil, lower the heat to a gentle simmer and cook for 30 minutes or so. Remove the crabs to a serving bowl and cover to keep warm.
• Meanwhile, bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until it is firm - really al dente. Drain.
• Place the pasta in a large serving bowl or platter and drizzle with olive oil. Pour the crab sauce over the pasta, scatter the basil leaves over the top and season aggressively with black pepper. Serve with crabs on the side and lots of bread.

SPICY CRAB PASTA

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add farfalle pasta, cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until al dente, and drain.
• Melt the butter in a separate pot. Mix in crabmeat and tomatoes. Season with red pepper, garlic salt, salt, and pepper. Cook and stir 10 minutes. Toss with cooked pasta to serve.

SPAGHETTI WITH CRAB AND TOMATOES

Steps:

• Combine crabmeat, tomatoes, lemon zest, lemon juice, pepper, 1/2 cup parsley, 1/4 cup oil, and 1 tsp. salt in a large bowl.
• Cook spaghetti in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup pasta cooking liquid, and add to crab mixture. Stir vigorously and add pasta cooking liquid and oil as needed to fully coat. Season with salt.
• Transfer pasta mixture to a serving bowl or platter and top with remaining 2 Tbsp. parsley. Serve immediately.

EASY 1970S CRAB AND PASTA SALAD

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add shells and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender yet firm to the bite, about 9 minutes. Drain and transfer to a mixing bowl.
• Mix crab and lemon juice into the pasta, followed by water chestnuts, mayonnaise, onion, salt, and pepper.
• Cover and refrigerate, 8 hours, or overnight.

PASTA CRAB CASSEROLE

Steps:

• Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a skillet, saute onions, mushrooms and green pepper in butter until crisp-tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Remove from the heat. Drain pasta; add to vegetable mixture. Stir in the crab, sour cream, salt and basil. , Transfer to two greased 8-in. square baking dishes. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover and freeze one casserole for up to 3 months. Cover and bake the second casserole at 350° for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake 5 minutes longer. , To use frozen casserole: Thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Cover and bake at 350° for 55-60 minutes or until heated through.

CRAB CAKES

Steps:

• Heat the broiler to 500 degrees (or its highest setting). On your oven's highest rack, broil all the bread slices on a baking sheet for 2 to 3 minutes, or until golden and crisp but not burned. Flip all the slices over and broil for another 2 to 3 minutes. Turn the broiler off and allow the bread to crisp in the oven until totally dry, 15 to 20 minutes.
• Remove the bread from the oven and let cool. Using a box grater or rolling pin, coarsely grate and crush the bread slices into bread crumbs (or, pulse them in a food processor). The crumbs should look and feel like sand; you should get about 4 cups. Set the bread crumbs aside.
• In a large cast-iron skillet, melt the butter over high heat. Once the butter is melted, add the onion and cook, stirring often, until tender, about 5 minutes.
• Pour the butter and onion into a large bowl. Whisk the flour into the melted butter and onion, then slowly whisk in the milk to make a creamy sauce. Once the sauce is smooth, whisk in the eggs, lemon juice, vinegar and mace.
• Add the crab meat to the cream sauce and mix lightly with a fork; don't break up the pieces of crab meat. Gently fold in just enough of the bread crumbs so that the mixture holds together (about 2 1/2 cups). Divide the crab mixture into 12 equal portions, setting them on a baking sheet as you go. They should be thick rounds - about the size of the palm of your hand, and roughly 1 1/2 inches thick.
• Using your hand, take a scoop of the toasted bread crumbs and coat each crab cake.
• Wipe out the skillet and heat the oil over high. Once the oil is hot, place a few of the crab cakes in the skillet. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 3 to 5 minutes on each side, or until browned and cooked through. Place the cooked crab cakes on a paper towel to drain. Working in batches, cook the remaining crab cakes, adding more oil as needed.
• Serve crab cakes immediately, or set aside in a warm oven (see Tip) while you cook the remaining crab cakes.

LEMON-GARLIC PENNE WITH CRAB

Steps:

• Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook and stir garlic in butter and oil over medium heat for 2 minutes or until garlic is golden (do not brown). Add the broth, crab and lemon juice. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 12-15 minutes or until sauce is reduced by half., Drain pasta; toss with crab sauce and 1/4 cup parsley. Garnish with lemon wedges and remaining parsley.

CRAB MEAT PASTA

Steps:

• In a large pot or saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the green pepper and garlic. Cook for 1 minute, stirring. Add the leeks and the crabs and stir for 2 minutes.
• Add the wine. Cover and bring to a boil. Simmer for 8 minutes.
• Remove the crabs from the pot and let cool to room temperature. Add saffron to the cooking liquid, stir, and reserve.
• Remove the meat and set aside in a warm place. Return any juices from the crabs to the pot.
• Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water. When al dente, drain well. Toss the pasta in the pot in which the crabs were cooked. Stir gently for 1 minute.
• Distribute pasta and sauce evenly in bowls. Garnish with crab meat.