Linguine with Crab Meat

Linguine with Crab Meat
Melina Hammer for The New York Times
Total Time
30 minutes
Rating
4(403)
Notes
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At All’onda in Greenwich Village, the chef Chris Jaeckle channels Venice by way of Japan. This pasta dish, which I enjoyed in his restaurant a few weeks ago, sums it up. Fresh pasta with crab meat and a smidgen of tomato is brightened with yuzu, lemon’s racy Japanese cousin. I remembered the dish as I savored the food-friendly, energetic white Bordeaux. The good acidity and citric notes of these wines welcome seafood. Though Mr. Jaeckle’s version calls for peekytoe crab, it is all but impossible to find in most retail fish markets, so he allowed for regular lump crab meat. As for the yuzu juice, it’s sold in Japanese markets. Look for a refrigerated brand that has no preservatives. You’ll have plenty left over, enough to test your cocktail-making chops before dinner. —Florence Fabricant

Featured in: White Bordeaux, in the Flesh

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 1jalapeño, cored, seeded, very finely minced
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 1tablespoon yuzu juice (sold in Japanese markets) or lemon juice
  • 4tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1medium onion, sliced
  • 4ounces button mushrooms, sliced
  • ½cup chopped peeled and seeded tomato, fresh or canned
  • Salt
  • Japanese togarashi pepper or cayenne, to taste
  • 2cloves garlic, thinly sliced
  • 1cup dry white wine
  • 1cup seafood stock
  • ½pound crab meat, preferably peekytoe
  • 12ounces fresh linguine
  • 3tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1tablespoon chopped tarragon leaves
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

588 calories; 26 grams fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 13 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 57 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 4 grams sugars; 23 grams protein; 891 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Combine jalapeño, lemon zest and yuzu juice in a small dish and set aside. Heat half the oil in a large sauté pan. Add the onion and cook on medium-high until it starts to caramelize. Remove it. Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook until they start to brown. Return the onions to the pan, add the tomatoes and cook until they start to dry out. Pulse the mixture in a food processor until very finely chopped. Add the jalapeño mixture and season to taste with salt and togarashi. The mixture should have a touch of heat.

  2. Step 2

    Bring a pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta. Heat the remaining oil in the sauté pan on low. Add the garlic, cook until it softens, then add the wine. Increase heat to medium high and reduce until the wine films the pan. Add the stock and the tomato mixture. Stir, then add the crab.

  3. Step 3

    Cook the pasta until it is al dente, about 3 minutes. Drain and add it to the sauté pan. Add the butter. Use tongs to toss all the ingredients together. Divide among 4 warm plates, scatter tarragon on each and serve.

Ratings

4 out of 5
403 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

Used lemon juice instead of yuzu, and 3 pinches of cayenne instead of togarashi, also 1- 8 oz can fire roasted tomatoes and 1/2 cup vegetable broth because of "what was there". Also didn't chop tomato mixture because I like chunks in my pasta. Nevertheless, this was very forgiving recipe, good and easy to prepare with lots of left overs for next day. Will make again.

I had to use lemon juice and cayenne, and for the seafood stock I combined equal amounts of vegetable stock and clam broth and reduced it to the amount of seafood stock called for. Next time I will puree the veggies finer and cook it all down to a "saucier" consistency before adding the crab. Not bad for the first try, definitely a keeper!!

I got yuzu juice online (interesting, but not sure if it's really better than freshly squeezed lemon juice) and had togarashi pepper left over from chicken wing recipes. But unless you live in Maine or own a fancy New York restaurant, I think you can forget about "peekytoe" crab. You could order that online, too, but unless you are confident about the seller, you could easily be caught in a bait-and-switch transaction. I found that lump blue crab worked just fine.

How many people were you serving?

A different approach to crab pasta - on the lighter side with just the little bit of butter - and an interesting sauce combination (mushroom + onion+ tomato + lemon). The tarragon is important, I think. Would make again - as crab is plentiful here in Maine. ;-)

This is magnificent. I made it with a lot of substitutions because I didn’t want to go to the store and was trying to clear out a tub of crab from Costco. My subs were 1/2 tsp for the jalapeño, chicken bouillon for seafood stock, lemon juice for yuzu, Dungeness for Peekytoe, and dry tarragon for fresh. So so so good! A

This is a good recipe that I’ve never made precisely with the more difficult to find ingredients. My advice is cut the wine and broth in half (I used chicken as that’s what I had). Use more good canned fire roasted tomatoes than is called for and more lemon & zest. A little heat is good but don’t fret if you only have cayenne pepper. I’ve used Gulf coast claw meat and it’s fantastic. Definitely get tarragon if you can find it

I loved this! Based on some of the reviews, I was expecting it to be just alright. It was delish! I used dungeness crab and lemon juice. I could not find any tarragon. It was still wonderful, and I was able to eat it for dinner the next day, too-still very yummy.

Brilliant - bright lemony, spicy sauce. Works really well with salmon or shrimp instead of crab

Disappointing. This recipe is complicated (4 sauteing steps plus pureeing). It uses $30+ worth of crab. The sauce was way too thick (OK, my technique might not have been perfect, but I did follow the recipe). At the end, I could not taste the crab--I might have liked the dish more if the crab had been left out.

Not worth the time or money. It took forever to make and it’s not flavorful at all. I feel like I wasted $40 of crab meat and several hundred calories that I’ll never get back.

Chose recipe to recreate a restaurant entree that had both crab and shrimp. Increased proportions because we were adding a pound of shrimp. Took an hour to prepare. Found yuzu at TJs. Felt it was a key element. Used shallots and halved cherry tomatoes, skin on. Didn’t finely chop mixture so someone could avoid mushrooms. Added generous TBS of Old Bay. Forgot the tarragon. Delicious!

Delicious with lemon juice in place of the yuzu and bucatini instead of the fresh linguini. Fresh tasting and light. I will make this again.

A different approach to crab pasta - on the lighter side with just the little bit of butter - and an interesting sauce combination (mushroom + onion+ tomato + lemon). The tarragon is important, I think. Would make again - as crab is plentiful here in Maine. ;-)

lemon juice instead of yuzu is fine…add extra lemon juice at end with splash of pernod… extra tomato would be good…must use fresh pasta…

This dish is stunning and reminiscent of an Italian vacation. I loved how easy it was for substitutions even though it calls for some fancy ingredients I just didn’t have time to get. I used a lemon instead of Yuzu, replaced the jalapeño with a teaspoon of Japanese yuzu flavored birds eye pepper a teaspoon of red pepper flakes, also I didn’t have any seafood stock so I used a cup of chicken stock which I think made the end result taste more light and beautiful. Can’t wait to make it again soon

I live on the Oregon coast so Dungeness crab is like, a staple. From someone who cooks A LOT of crab ... this recipe is...fair. If you have fresh crab, intact and want a mind blowing meal for company or whatever, then keep it simple. Steam it for a few minutes to warm it up, split them in half and and serve it in a big bowl in the center of the table with garlic butter and lemon on the side. Ceasar salad, crusty bread and crisp white wine. Boom. I made this and was underwhelmed.

I didn't bend the vegetables and enjoyed the texture.

This one was not worth the effort or the expense. The sauce was not flavorful and the crabmeat, by the time I tossed enough to evenly distribute with the pasta, turned into strings. Daughter didn't eat, hubs liked it, I ate a few bites. Not a winner.

Soooo delicious! I used red pepper flakes instead of jalapeno. Fantastic with whole wheat linguine.

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Credits

Adapted from All’onda

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