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Tart London: How to make Crab Pasta

Brixham is one of the last working fishing harbours in England.

The boats come in and out through the day while seagulls wheel overhead. Most of each haul is sold immediately in the new market or eaten in the fish-and-chip joints along the waterfront. What joy to find ourselves there on a sunny weekend. We were lucky enough to catch a ride on one of the boats, skippered by retired trawlerman Dennis. He is in his early 80s, but when he was starting out, he told us, the skies teemed with seabirds and at times the sea appeared ‘to boil with herring or mackerel’.

Dennis took us to see his crab pots. This is our kind of fishing. The pots are hauled up from the bottom, thick with seaweed and barnacles, and inside each is at least one fat, cross-looking crab. They are as quick as lightning, with powerful claws, so extracting them is a skill and involves squeals and laughter from us. Arriving back in the harbour in under two hours, we parted company with Dennis replete with four crabs. What a fantastic feeling.

Crab is tricky to prepare. Extracting the sweet flesh is a challenge, and it’s worth seeking out a reputable supplier who can get you prepped shellfish. We considered on the boat what we were going to do with our haul. Would we keep it fresh and simple with a lemony aioli and rocket? Turn the flaky flesh into Thai-spiced crab cakes? Or perhaps we’d embark on a crab bisque, a real labour of love, with charred sourdough for dunking. But ultimately we couldn’t deny ourselves our desert-island dish: crab pasta. We have ordered this in restaurants countless times and made it at home many more. We never get bored of it. This is an adaptation of a classic River Café recipe.

Petit déjeuner: Eliza tucks into a boiled egg for brekkie in Provence
Petit déjeuner: Eliza tucks into a boiled egg for brekkie in Provence

Crab Pasta

Serves: 4

Ingredients

For the sauce

  • 3 tbsp olive oil

  • 3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

  • ½ tsp crushed chillies

  • 1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed

  • 2 spring onions, ends removed and finely chopped

  • 1 bulb of fennel, halved and thinly sliced

  • Big handful of cherry tomatoes, diced small

  • 200ml white wine

For the crab

  • 400g crabmeat

  • Medium bunch of flat-leafed parsley, roughly chopped

  • Small bunch of basil, roughly chopped

  • Small bunch of tarragon, roughly chopped

  • Juice and zest of 1 lemon

For the anchovy crumbs

  • 1 tbsp butter

  • 3 anchovy fillets, chopped

  • ½ tsp fennel seeds

  • 1 garlic clove, crushed

  • 100g sourdough, blitzed until coarse crumbs

  • Zest of 1 lemon

  • 350g pasta (we have used pappardelle)

  • 3 tbsp crème fraiche

  • Juice of half a lemon

Method

Heat the olive oil in a large pan and add the garlic, chilli and fennel seeds. Sauté over a low heat for a few minutes then add the spring onions and sliced fennel. Sauté for a further five minutes. Add the tomatoes and the wine and

turn up the heat. Simmer for a few minutes

until most of the wine has cooked off. Remove from the heat.

In a bowl, mix the fresh crab with the chopped herbs (reserve some parsley), the lemon zest and juice and plenty of salt and pepper. Set to one side.

In a frying pan, melt the butter and stir in the anchovies, fennel seeds and garlic. Cook over a medium heat until the flesh breaks down then add the crumbs. Fry until crisp then add the lemon zest and leftover parsley.

Boil the pasta in a large pan of salted water according to instructions. In a small bowl, mix the crème fraiche with the lemon juice and season. Reheat the fennel mixture and stir through the drained pasta and crab. Serve with a dollop of crème fraiche and a generous sprinkling of anchovy crumbs.