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Italian Crab and Pasta





Yields
Makes 6 servings



Total Time
1 hr

Provide nut or crab crackers and plenty of napkins or wet towels with this dish.

Italian Crab and Pasta




Christina Schmidhofer
 6 tablespoons olive oil
 3 Dungeness crabs (about 2 lb. each), cooked, cleaned, and cracked
 2 cans (28 oz. each) Italian-style peeled tomatoes
 3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
 1/4 cup thinly slivered fresh basil leaves or 1 tablespoon dried basil
 1 pound dried angel hair pasta or fresh linguine
 4 ounces shelled cooked crab
  Salt and pepper
 3 to 4 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
Step 1
1

Pour olive oil into a 12-inch frying pan (with sides at least 2 in. tall) or 6- to 8-quart pan over medium heat. When warm, add crabs in the shell and cook, stirring occasionally, until juices leak into pan, 5 to 7 minutes. With tongs, transfer crab pieces to a large serving bowl; cover and keep warm in a 200° oven.

Step 2
2

Add tomatoes (including juice), garlic, and basil to pan. With a wooden spoon, scrape any crab bits from bottom of pan. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Boil gently, uncovered, stirring occasionally and crushing tomatoes with a potato masher or spoon and reducing heat as sauce thickens, until sauce is thick and reduced to about 4 1/2 cups, about 30 minutes. Remove from heat. Spoon about a third of the sauce over crabs in the shell; cover loosely and return to oven.

Step 3
3

About 15 minutes before sauce is done, in a 6- to 8-quart pan over high heat, bring 3 to 4 quarts water to a boil. Add pasta, stir to separate, and cook just until barely tender to bite, 3 to 4 minutes for dried angel hair pasta, about 2 minutes for fresh linguine. Drain.

Step 4
4

Over low heat, add the shelled cooked crab to remaining tomato sauce; stir occasionally until hot, 1 to 2 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour drained pasta into sauce and mix well.

Step 5
5

Mound pasta in a wide, shallow serving bowl. Remove crab from oven and sprinkle both crab and pasta with parsley.

Nutrition Facts

Servings 0

Amount Per Serving
Calories 587Calories from Fat 28
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 18g28%

Saturated Fat 2.4g12%
Cholesterol 128mg43%
Sodium 794mg34%
Total Carbohydrate 69g23%

Dietary Fiber 4.2g17%
Protein 38g76%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.