Crab Pasta with Creamy Corn Sauce
Sometimes you just have to go wild and experiment a little. This dish uses sweet corn as the base for the pasta sauce and is paired with delicious snow crab meat. The handmade pasta is an odd combination of ramen noodles and tagliatelle but is rolled much thinner to better match the delicate flavors. Then the whole thing is topped with a lime panko gremolata to add that zesty kick and a bit of crunchy texture.
Pasta Dough
300 g Bread Flour
1/2 Tbsp Sodium Carbonate
This can be made at home by spreading about 1 Cup of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) on a baking sheet and baking it for an hour at 250°F. The resulting powder will be much lighter and very basic so do not handle it with bare hands. Store in a tightly sealed glass jar.
Dissolve in 1/4 Cup warm water.
1 Egg
8 Egg Yolks
1 tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
Combine the flour, sodium carbonate, egg, egg yolks, salt, and olive oil in a large mixing bowl.
Knead the dough for 10 - 15 minutes or until smooth. If the dough is too wet, sprinkle a little bit of flour until you reach the desired texture. The dough should by silky but not sticky.
Let the dough rest for at least an hour.
Work with 1/8 of the dough at a time so the pasta doesn’t become too long and unwieldy.
Roll the dough to the thinnest setting (approximately 0.8mm).
Cut into desired shape and hang to dry.
Creamy Corn Sauce
200 mL White Wine Vinegar
2 tsp Peppercorns
1 Bay Leaf
1 packet Frozen Sweet Corn ( 10 oz or 283 g)
1 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
1/2 Yellow Onion (small)
5 Tbsp Heavy Cream
1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp Mustard (preferably the grainy kind)
1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
Lime Juice (half of a lime)
Pinch of Salt
1/2 Cup Crab Meat
Put the white wine vinegar, peppercorns, and bay leaf in a sauce pan and simmer on medium heat. Let the vinegar reduce by half. Then strain out the peppercorns and bay leaf. You should be left with a little less than 1/4 cup of liquid.
Microwave the packet of sweet corn for 3 minutes to just take the chill off.
Finely dice the onion and sauté in butter until it becomes fragrant and translucent.
Put the sweet corn, sautéed onion, and heavy cream in a food processor and pulse until you have a very smooth purée.
Work the corn purée through a sieve to remove the more fibrous stuff and to have a much smoother sauce.
Add in 1 Tbsp of the reduced vinegar.
Add in the Worcestershire sauce, mustard, cayenne pepper, and lime juice.
Season with a pinch of salt (to taste).
Once the pasta is cooked, add in about 4 - 6 Tbsp of pasta water to thin out the sauce a little bit.
Then gently fold in the crab meat. Reserve the biggest piece of crab to be placed on top of the pasta.
Lime Panko Gremolata
1 Cup Panko Breadcrumbs
4 cloves Garlic (finely minced)
4 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
Lime Zest (one whole lime)
Lime Juice (half of a lime)
Salt
Pepper
Pinch of Citric Acid
1/2 Cup Italian Parsley (chopped)
In a pan, melt the butter on medium to medium-low heat and add in the garlic. Sauté until fragrant.
Add in the panko, lime zest, lime juice, salt, pepper, and citric acid.
Sauté until the panko is nice golden brown and crunchy.
Take the panko off the heat and toss in the parsley.
Set aside to be used as a flavorful topping.
Bringing It All Together
1/2 Cup Asparagus (roughly chopped)
1/2 Red Onion (small)
Can be substituted for shallots
1 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
1 bunch Dried Handmade Pasta
Boil for only 1 - 2 minutes. The pasta is very thin and will cook almost immediately.
Salt
Pepper
In a sauté pan, melt the butter over medium heat.
Add in the red onion and sauté until translucent.
Add in the asparagus and the cooked handmade pasta.
Add in the creamy corn sauce and toss to coat every noodle.
Add in pasta water as needed.
Spiral the pasta on a plate and ladle for creamy corn sauce around the pasta. Top with more crab meat and the panko gremolata to complete!
