Prep time: 1 hour and 15 minutes, plus resting
Cook time: 20 minutes
Serves 4.
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Ingredients
4 blue swimmer crabs
Chilli flakes and flat leaf parsley, to garnish
Pasta
400g 00 flour
1 tsp salt
4 eggs
Crab sauce
80ml olive oil
1 long red chilli, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
125ml dry white wine
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley
50g butter, chopped
Method
1. To make pasta, pulse flour and salt in a processor to combine. Add eggs. Process to form a crumbly dough.
2. Knead dough on a lightly floured bench for about 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic (it will lose it’s rough, floury texture). Stand, covered, for 20 minutes to rest. Divide into quarters. Pass quarters through a pasta machine on the widest setting, dusting dough with flour between rolls, increasing settings until about 2mm thick. Pass pasta sheets through a fettucine cutter and place on a lightly floured tray (or hang) for 15 minutes, to dry a little before cooking.
3. To prepare crabs, break off tail flap on the underside and discard. Prise off top shell and clean of any guts. Remove and discard the soft gills and stomach sac. Briefly rinse. Cut into three pieces and lightly crack claws.
4. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil. Cook the crab for 5 minutes. Drain. Set claws aside for garnish. When cool enough to handle pick meat from body of crab.
5. To make sauce, heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Cook chilli and garlic until soft. Add wine and simmer until reduced by half. Add onions and cook for 2 minutes or until just softened. Stir in remaining ingredients and picked crab meat.
6. Cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling salted water for about 2 minutes or until al dente. Add half a cup of the pasta water to the pan with the sauce. Drain pasta and add to pan with crab sauce. Toss to combine.
7. Serve pasta and sauce topped with crab claws. Garnish with chilli and parsley.