How to make pasta with crab, lemon and chilli

Cooking fresh pasta needs little culinary skill and is made even better with good-quality ingredients

Pasta is one of the original fast foods. If you use fresh pasta or dried egg pasta it’s even speedier – no more than 10 minutes from start to finish for this dish with crab, lemon and chilli.

Of course, crab isn’t cheap but I did some rough calculations and figure that you can feed two for around £8. Throw in a green salad and you’ve still got change from a tenner.

Bring down the cost even more by using a combination of brown and white crab which many would argue makes for a tastier dish to boot. But as with anything this simple, the key is in using high-quality ingredients.

The crab is from Dorset, the pasta Italian. The fresh lemon and garlic are staples in my kitchen while chilli sits next to the cooker ready for the next culinary assignment. The parsley survived the winter and sits in a pot outside the kitchen door.

The other key to this dish is scooping the cooked pasta out of the water rather than draining it in a colander. A pair of tongs is invaluable to lift the al dente pasta out of the cooking pot and transfer to a frying pan where you’ve sautéed the garlic and chilli.

The liquid that clings to the pasta makes it rich and almost creamy. I add another scoopful of the pasta water for good measure and let it reduce down for a minute or two. The crab should be tossed in at the last minute, along with the chopped parsley.

And that’s it. You’re done. You’ve got dinner on the table before you’ve even thought about ordering a takeaway.

Pasta with crab, lemon and chilli

Serves 2

250g egg pappardelle
150g white crab meat (or a mix of white and brown)
2 tbsp olive oil 
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1-2 tsp chilli flakes
Juice of half a lemon
Salt 
Extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water. While the pasta is cooking, sauté the garlic in the olive oil for a minute in a deep-sided frying pan over medium heat. Add the chilli flakes. Watch the garlic – you don’t want it to turn brown.

When the pasta is cooked, take a pair of tongs and transfer the pasta into the frying pan. The liquid clinging to the pasta will make a pleasant hiss. Stir to coat in the oil, garlic and chilli mixture. Add the lemon juice and stir again. Add a ladleful of the pasta water, stir and let the pasta absorb the liquid. Gently stir in the crab meat and parsley – reserving a bit of the parsley to garnish. Taste and add salt if needed.

Divide between two bowls, garnish with parsley and extra chilli flakes if you desire. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and serve.

@juliapleonard