Crabby Crab Season

I love all things water. If I could choose what I would reincarnate to, I would be a great white. I am a Cancer sign...with Leo tendencies. One of my strongest Cancer traits is my love of home/hosting/cooking. When I get the chance to cook for a group I am happiest.

This past weekend, my older sister came into town for a seasonal crab feed. I did not join them due to my diet commitment (this is one serious crab feed) but was presented with a zip lock bag full of gorgeous crab meat. Huge succulent chunks. I don't know how they smuggled it out but for that I am SO thankful!!

I knew I had to do something with the crab as quickly as possible. Crab salad, crab cakes, crab ceviche, none inspired me. That is, until I remembered my all time guilty indulgence; Crab spaghetti from one my favorite restaurants in Saratoga, CA. The Basin! Simple, delicious and filling.

My recipe didn't quite turn out as expected but I am sure I can try again and get it right. The Basin uses what seems like a vodka sauce. Their spaghetti is a little on the sweet/creamy side. I made mine more on the spicy spectrum. My girlfriend came to dinner last night and tried my creation. She devoured a big bowl and said it was delicious. I guess it's post worthy if she liked it!

Here goes my shot at Spicy Crab Spaghetti

Ingredients list:
1-1.5 lb of Lump Crab
1 package of Barilla thin spaghetti
1 jar of Giada deLaurentis Roasted garlic Spaghetti Sauce or you can try Vodka Sauce
2 Garlic cloves minced
1 medium onion diced
1/2 cup Frozen peas
1 Tbsp chili flakes
1tsp each salt & fresh pepper 
1 tsp Oregano
2-3 tsp of EVOO

Sides:
Parmesan Cheese
1 loaf of Sour Dough bread (I purchased a fresh Panera loaf)

Start with boiling a pot of water for your pasta. For this dish, you will need to cook everything in sequence. You don't want to over cook your crab so work quickly and use a timer.

Heat oil in a large pan or skillet. Using Medium heat, gently sweat your onions, garlic and chili flakes, about 3-4 minutes. Add crab meat and saute gently for about 3 minutes, letting the chili, garlic infusion flavor the meat. Add the Jar of spaghetti sauce and stir. After 2 minutes or so, give it a taste. Add pepper, salt and Oregano flakes to your liking.

I did not have a full onion to work with, you should use more than pictured.

Once you add the spaghetti sauce into the pan, immediately add the pasta to the boiling water and cook as directed. 6-7 minutes for perfect al dente. Reduce the heat on the spaghetti sauce to med/low and add the peas. Stir and cover while the pasta cooks. Toast your bread at this time. I pre-heat my oven when I start to cook so it's ready to toast bread before serving.

Add frozen ingredients at the end.

Once the pasta is cooked, uncover the spaghetti sauce and add the pasta right into the pan. I allow some of the pasta water to mix with the sauce. Stir and mix well. When the pasta is completely coated, give it a taste. It may have slightly changed flavor because of the pasta water. I usually reserve a tad bit of the pasta sauce and add it at the end. I also re-season with salt, pepper and chili flakes.

Serve with toasted buttery sour dough and plenty of Parmesan cheese and chili flakes.

I paired this dish with a glass of Chardonnay but Mexican beer (Modelo Especial) also works nicely.

Buen Provecho!