Crab and Truffle Pappardelle
While we are all in limbo land (you know, otherwise known as Dec 26-30), I thought I would share something to help get you gussied up for the New Year. Because after all, it’s been a rough year for a lot of us and we deserve to get a little more EXTRA this year. Champagne? pop it! Oysters? shuck ‘em! Caviar? get it! And just plain indulge however you can this NYE.
Note: This recipe has a lot going on so it’s ideal for cooking with others. Since some of the ingredients, like live Dungeness crab and black truffles are hard to find, I am also including some alternatives that will make it just as special.
Ingredients
Serves 4
3 Dungeness crabs (Steamed and picked of all meat; this should be about 1.5 lbs of meat. We purchased ours from Taylor Shellfish but you can often find different types of crab meat or even lobster meat in the frozen food section. If you have access to a seafood market, you can ask them for a steamed or cooked crab or picked crab meat too)
1 shallot (finely diced)
4-5 cloves of garlic (minced or grated)
3 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp flour
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 tbsp dry sherry
1/2 cup whipping cream (or more if you want it extra creamy)
1/4 cup parsley (chopped, stems removed)
9-10oz pappardelle noodles
1 black truffle (or dried porchini mushrooms if you cannot find truffle)
Additional items:
Regular whisk or French whisk (I love how a french/mini whisk helps you whip your sauce together in a pot. Use a regular whisk if you do not have a french whisk).
Large to medium dutch oven or pot for making the sauce and tossing the pasta in the sauce
Steamer (I use a large dutch oven filled with about 2 inches of salted water with a strainer and cover on top; make sure to check the water levels if you are steaming the crab in batches).
Method
If you are going the live/fresh crab route, start by prepping the crab at least 1 hour in advance since you may need to steam in batches. I used this guide from fine dining chef Becky Selengut.
Cook your pasta according to the package instructions in salted water. Make sure to reserve at least one cup of pasta water. Set aside for later.
Start by making your sauce: Melt the butter in a small sauce pan over low heat. Whisk in the flour, shallots and garlic. Stir continuously for 5 minutes. Stir in the white wine and sherry and allow the alcohol to cook off. This may take 3-5 minutes. You will notice it will steam and then stop steaming once all the alcohol is gone. Give it a taste to make sure (it should not taste like alcohol). Gradually whisk in the cream until it becomes more sauce-like. It should be relatively thick but we will use pasta water to thin it out later. Lastly stir in 1/2 cup of the crab meat until well incorporated. Remove from heat and set aside.
Toss the pasta with the sauce, using pasta water to thin out the sauce. Add until the consistency if to your liking.
Stir in the chopped parsley and serve with 1/4 cups of crab meat in the center of the pasta. Top with a couple shavings of truffle or porcini and enjoy!
