Tagliatelle with crab, fresh tomato and courgette
I LOVE the sunny weather! I know it’s not fun for everybody, but it’s like being on holiday at home! The boys are hoping and praying that it lasts into the summer holidays too. The one downside about it is that I don’t really feel like slaving over the cooker, so supper has become quick, easy and minimal fuss. Tonight we had a lovely, fresh tasting pasta dish that takes about as long as the pasta takes to cook:
Tagliatelle with crab, fresh tomato and courgette
Good quality dried tagliatelle (generally you need to allow about 75-80 of pasta per person)
1 clove garlic
Pinch salt
Pinch dried chilli
Good quality olive or rapeseed oil
1 courgette, cut into fat slices
About 1/2 punnet of fresh baby plum tomatoes (or any tomato, frankly)
1 tin white crab meat, drained
Fresh herbs if you have them
So first bring a big pan of salted water to the boil and add in the pasta. Stir it around and leave to cook.
Next, add a glug of oil to a frying pan (I use rapeseed) and pop in the courgette slices. Season well - be generous with the pepper.
With a pestle and mortar, bash the garlic with the pinch of salt. Add in the dried chilli and then a generous glug of oil. Stir in the crab and set aside. Don’t forget to check the courgettes and give them a turn so they brown easily.
If you’ve timed it right, your pasta will be al dente just as the courgettes and nice and golden. Drain it off, reserving a little bit of the cooking liquid in case the mixture is a bit dry
Toss through the oily garlicky crab (also delicious spread on toast, by the way), the courgette sliced, the halved tomatoes and a generous handful of something fresh like basil or parsley - rocket’s nice with this too.
Carry to garden and stuff into face. Preferably with a nice glass of rosé. Cheers!
Linguine. I do not know what lunguine is but it sounds gross.
One of my fave pasta dishes is Nigella’s crab and chilli lunguine - this is v similar and I love the addition of courgettes so will be trying it out. Thanks!
K
xx