
Words by Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi. Photo by Helen Cathcart.
Huge spider crabs are eaten as crab salad or tossed with pasta and often served in their shells. These crabs can also be found off UK shores but we don’t have a history of eating them, so they are sold abroad, which is a huge shame. Their legs have an enormous amount of white, sweet meat in them. We love the crab with fresh white tagliolini served at the restaurant Antiche Carampane. Fresh pasta this thin is hard to cook perfectly, so we have given the option for using dried black or white pasta. The Venetians are not big on chilli, so add or leave out as you please.
Depending on whether you buy cooked crabs, their size and sex, or use pots of crabmeat, you will have differing amounts of white and brown meat. Always use more white crabmeat at the end of cooking and the stronger tasting brown crabmeat in smaller amounts at the beginning. If there is red coral in the crabs, add a little of this at the end for decoration. Most Venetian kitchens have at least three types of peppercorns; my favourite with this dish is a little crushed Sichuan at the end. As chilli strength varies from chilli to chilli, either add a little or a whole one. You have to be brave and taste to know!
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Black Linguine with Crab
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
- 2 shallots or 1 medium white onion, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 1/2-1 red fresh or dried chilli, finely chopped, to taste
- 2 crabs cooked, or 100 g (31/2 oz) brown crabmeat and 300 g (101/2 oz) white crabmeat
- 100 ml 31/2 fl oz/ scant 1/2 cup Prosecco or white wine
- Salt and freshly ground black or Sichuan pepper
- 1 quantity of fresh black or white tagliolini or 320 g, 111/4 oz dried black or white linguine
- 2 tbsps of parsley, finely chopped, leaves and stalks
Instructions
- Bring a large saucepan of well- salted water to the boil. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the shallots and garlic over a low heat until softened. Add the chilli and brown crabmeat and stir through. Turn up the heat and pour in the Prosecco, allow it to evaporate until the strong smell of alcohol has gone. Taste and season the sauce. Remove
- from the heat and set aside. Cook the pasta until just al dente. Take a few tablespoons of water from the pasta saucepan and add it to the frying pan. Drain the pasta and put this in too. Add the white crabmeat and parsley and toss or stir through briefly. Taste once more and season further if necessary. Drizzle with your finest olive oil and serve.
Recipes from Venice by Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi (Hardie Grant), Photography © Helen Cathcart