Crab Linguine with Tomato, White Wine and Breadcrumbs
I used tinned crab because that was available but feel free to use fresh crab from the shell or ready picked.
Servings: 2
Ingredients
For the breadcrumbs
- A chunk of day-old baguette or other stale bread
- Olive oil
- Salt
For the linguine
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 large cloves of garlic crushed
- 150 ml white wine
- 150 ml water
- 1 large tomato or 2 medium tomatoes sliced into 16 (or 8 segments)
- 1 tsp sugar
- 200 g dried linguine
- 300 g tinned crab
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- 2 tbsp chopped parsley
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Chilli flakes to serve
Instructions
- First make the breadcrumbs. Take a box grater and grate the chunk of stale bread on the wide grating holes. Grate as much or as little as you'd like - it'll take perseverance but there'll be lots of bread dust and some bigger crumbs. Cover the base of a frying pan with olive oil and set the heat to high. Test if it's hot enough by adding some crumbs - if they sizzle, the oil is ready. Fry the crumbs until golden and crispy, then tip them out onto a kitchen-paper lined plate and immediately season with salt.
- Wipe out the frying pan and add the olive oil. Once hot, add the crushed garlic. Saute for 20 secs until fragrant then add the tomato slices. Season with some salt and cook in the garlicky oil until slightly broken down, around 3-4 mins. Add the wine and water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the liquid level has reduced by half.
- Meanwhile, cook the linguine in salted boiling water according to packet instructions - it should take 9-10 mins. Drain in a colander but reserve a mugful of starchy pasta water.
- Drain the tinned crab through a sieve and season with salt and stir together with the lemon zest.
- Once the tomato sauce has reduced, season with salt and pepper and stir in the sugar. Cook for another minute then remove from the heat and add the lemony crabmeat, lemon juice and oregano. Stir to combine then tip in all the cooked linguine. Using tongs, coat in the crab and tomato sauce. Add some reserved pasta water if it looks too dry. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and chilli flakes. Divide between bowls and serve with the crunchy breadcrumbs.