Don's Crab Fettucine

We cracked open our first crabs of the season on Sunday. I am so sorry if you don't live here in the Bay area. You are missing out big time. The Dungeness crabs are soooooooooo good. The meat is sweet, and tender, and oh-so-delicious.

Don had a hankerin' for his famous crab fettucine so I skipped right on over to Whole Foods and picked up two whole crabs - which they clean and crack for you. Which trust me, makes getting the meat out a whole lot easier. No pliers or hammers required.

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but Don is a good cook. In fact, he's the whole reason I wanted to learn how to cook. He's the kind of cook that doesn't use a recipe or a cookbook. He has that natural gift of knowing what tastes good together. I am so envious of that talent. He's also an amazing artist, photographer, interior designer, etc. In other words, he's the creative one in the family. I'm the other one! Just kidding. I'm creative. In my own special way. I try hard.

So I've already annoyed him by jumping in the kitchen to take pictures of his masterpiece. Cuz you know he's not crazy about the blog. But sheesh. It's the first crab of the season. Gotta write about that! So I'm keeping one eye on him as I write this so I can document the recipe. He's not much of a talker either so unless I watch him, we'll never know his secret.

Don's Crab Fettuccine

 
Crab Preparation
2 large, fresh, Dungeness Crabs, meat removed.
Squeeze some lemon over the crab.
Season with a dash of salt and pepper
Combine in a bowl and set aside.

Sauce
8-10 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 T butter
2 T olive oil
1 small bunch of basil finely chopped
~1/2 cup parsley chopped
~1 T fresh oregano finely chopped
~1 T fresh thyme finely chopped
1 14 oz can whole plum tomatoes with sauce, broken up in the pan
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 cups freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
Salt and Pepper 


1) Prepare 1 lb fettuccine in very salty water. Cook until al dente. Drain, but don't rinse.
2) Remove crab meat from shell. Place meat in a bowl with a squeeze of lemon and some salt and pepper.
3) In a large skillet, saute chopped garlic in 2T olive oil and 1 T butter until soft. 
4) Add one can of plum tomatoes with juice, fresh chopped basil, oregano, thyme and parsley along with a good splash of white wine. 
5) Cook for a minute or two. Add crab. Let simmer for 10 minutes. 
6) Season with salt and pepper. Add pasta to sauce. Turn heat off. 
7) Add 2 cups fresh grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese. Give it a quick stir and serve.

There you go.


Don didn't really measure anything. He just adds a little of this and a little of that and voila - bon appetit! So you can imagine how happy he was that I was taking notes.

I hope you enjoy this Don original.