Crab and tomato go together like cats and random things tossed onto the floor. That is to say that crab and any form of tomato play well together, from a simple salad with freshly chopped tomatoes to this spaghetti with crab sauce.
I first had a version of this dish several years ago; my brother-in-law Mark made it with lobster while I was visiting them in Massachusetts.
It is a sauce of two parents: Italians and thrifty Yankees. Mark being both, he made the sauce using just the legs and bodies of the lobsters, parts many people throw away. But Mark knows that plenty of meat lurks within lobster bodies, and he’d patiently pick it out before making this sauce.
As he did so, it occurred to me that there would be no reason why it would not work with crabs, too. After all, crabs and lobsters are cousins.
(I also have a recipe for lobster fra diavolo, which is similar and an Italian American classic.)
So when I returned home to California all those years ago, the first time I brought back some crabs from Bodega Bay I made my own rendition of Mark’s lobster sauce. I’ve made it many times since then, and a version of it appears in my book.
But as with any recipe you do over and over and over again, I’ve tinkered with the original, and, I think, have managed to streamline the recipe even more. In the old version, I had trouble getting all the shell out of the sauce. I’ve fixed that here.
This sauce is insanely good. Good in the way only years of tinkering can do. Sharp, sweet, garlicky, just a little spicy with a strong hit of anise flavor from fennel and ouzo.
It may look like just a regular tomato sauce with bits of crab in it, but it’s not. I assure you. Do yourself a favor and make some shrimp or scallop scampi as an appetizer for this. You won’t be sad you did.
Spaghetti with Crab Sauce
Ingredients
SAUCE BASE
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup chopped onion
- Shells from 2 or 3 Dungeness crabs or 4 to 6 large rock crabs, or 8 blue crabs
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- Tops from 1 fennel bulb, chopped
- 3-4 bay leaves
- 1/2 cup ouzo
FINISHED SAUCE
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1/2 cup chopped fennel bulb
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste
- 1/4 cup ouzo
- A 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes
- 2 cups of the crab sauce base
- Tabasco garlic-pepper sauce to taste, or other hot sauce
- 1 cup cooked crabmeat
- 1-2 pounds dried spaghetti
- Chives, green onions or parsley to garnish
Instructions
- To make the sauce base, put the onions and olive oil in a stockpot and cook, stirring occasionally, over medium heat until the onions are soft and translucent, about 6-8 minutes. Add the crab shells and the garlic and stir to combine. Use a potato masher to smash the crab shells into small pieces. Cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes.
- Add the bay leaves, the tops from the fennel bulb, ouzo and a healthy pinch of salt. Add enough water to cover everything by 1 inch. Bring to a simmer and cook for 1 hour. Turn off the heat and pick out as much of the solids as possible, making sure you save the liquid. Strain the liquid through a paper towel set in a colander. Reserve.
- To finish the sauce, heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven or other large, wide pot over medium-high heat. Saute the onions and chopped fennel until they are soft and translucent, about 6-8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another minute.
- Mix in the tomato paste and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring often, until it darkens and turns the color of brick. Add the ouzo, the tomatoes and 2 cups of the crab sauce base. Stir well and bring to a simmer. Taste for salt and add the Tabasco to taste. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring from time to time.
- Boil your pasta. Once the pasta is ready, add the crabmeat to the sauce and stir gently. Mix the pasta with a little of the sauce, then portion it out. Top with more sauce, and garnish with chives or parsley.
The Anise flavoured liquer just didn’t go well with my taste buds. The second time i made this dish I used a bit of pouilly fume I had opened to serve with meal. It worked…for me. Great dish.
Linda: Try it with brandy next time. That works well, too.
I haven’t tried this recipe yet it’s because crabs or Lobster shells. I would like to find some that is already out of the shell so I found imitation crab meat and even though it’s not real meat. I was wondering would it also work or should I grow a pair and do it the right way. I live in Boston Massachusetts and I normally go to Cape Cod for my Seafood but I’m unable to do so at the moment. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, it looks absolutely delicious.
Delicious sauce, I generally add more garlic than Hank calls for, otherwise outstanding if a bit labor intensive (I pulled 6 blue crabs out of my pots today so it was a perfect occasion).
I don’t see anything about removing the lungs. Is that just understood?
Sam: Yes, it’s understood. Crab lungs are not edible to my knowledge.
How do you remove crab lungs?
Eve: With your fingers. They are obvious, grayish, feathery things under the carapace.
Made this for the second time last night; or throughout the day yesterday is a more appropriate description. Honestly, I love this recipe. What I love most about it is making the base, I always make way more than needed and end up freezing some so I always have it on hand. The smell of the fennel as it simmers is phenomenal, I used a bit to much crab 6lbs so I’m still burning candles to help reduce the lingering crabby aroma and appease the family, its a small price to pay for something so wonderful!