Blue Crab Lemon Pasta
As we get further into blue claw season in Long Island, I am busy making tasty things with them. This lemon crab pasta is really easy to make, and the splash of cream at the end gives this a delicious richness that is difficult to describe. You can, of course, use store bought crab meat when you don’t have fresh, but my blog wouldn‘t be what it is if I wasn’t at least producing some of the ingredients from foraging, fishing, crabbing, or growing.
If you have access to the local docks, July and August is when a net, some chicken legs or wings can have you hauling them up by the bucketful. You can freeze them and keep them in a non-thaw cycled deep chest freezer and then steam them as needed so you can have blue claws all year long.
I imagine king crab or snow crab would be equally acceptable and delicious. I always keep a jar of salt preserved lemon puree on hand in the event I need lemon juice and lemon zest. The cream goes in at the end to prevent it from curdling due to the acidity from the lemon.
Ingredients
- Meat from one large blue claw crab (or more, I’m not judging)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon of white wine
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt preserved lemon puree or a mix of lemon juice and zest
- 1 serving spaghetti
- Water, for boiling the pasta
- 2-3 tablespoons reserved pasta water, to thicken the sauce
- 1/4 cup cream
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Minced parsley, for garnish
- Parmesan cheese, if using, to taste
- In a pot, boil pasta according to instructions. Salt the water well.
- Over medium high heat, melt butter and sauté garlic until fragrant. Toss in crab meat and white wine until alcohol has cooked off. Add 2-3 tablespoons of the pasta water.
- Toss in pasta and add salt and pepper to taste. May not need additional salt due to the pasta water.
- Add the cream, remove from heat, and place everything into a bowl.
- Serve with a spoonful of salt preserved lemon puree, garnish with minced parsley and parmesan cheese, if using. Mix well before serving.