Description
This Lemon Cream Linguine with Crab is simple food at its best. Jumbo lump crab is the star of the show here, sitting atop linguine that is tossed in a light but decadent lemon cream sauce. This dish comes together in minutes but tastes like a million bucks.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 lb linguine (or pasta of choice)
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and left whole
- Zest of 2 lemons
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 lb jumbo lump crab
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
- Fresh herbs or microgreens, for garnish
- Grated or shaved parmesan or grana padana cheese
- Slices of lemon
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until el dente, according to the package directions. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water before draining.
- While the pasta is cooking, add the cream and garlic clove to a large skillet and set over medium heat. Stir in the lemon zest and juice and heat the cream until the edges just start to bubble – you don’t want it to boil. Season the cream with a pinch of salt, pepper, and the red pepper flakes (if using). Keep the cream warm until the pasta is done.
- Remove and discard the garlic clove and then add the cooked pasta to the cream mixture and toss well to combine, adding a few splashes of the pasta water to help form a creamy sauce. I like to use tongs for this process.
- Keep tossing and stirring until the sauce thickens and coats the noodles well – this will take about 3 minutes. If it seems too runny, keep stirring and increase the heat just slightly to help the extra moisture evaporate. Be patient – it WILL thicken!
- Stir the crab in and remove the pan from the heat. Toss to combine the crab and warm it through. Season with another pinch of salt and pepper, adding as much as you need to meet your taste.
- Serve the pasta immediately, garnished with herbs, microgreens, shaved or grated cheese, and slices of lemon.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: pasta