Black pepper crab spaghetti

This recipe from Gaspar Tse pays homage to the world-famous Singaporean black pepper crab dish that allows you to enjoy these rich flavours without needing to crack a single crab claw. A rich bisque simmered with crab shells, white wine and fennel lends a rich flavour to the sauce. Finish with fresh stracciatella for the ultimate pasta meal!

Black pepper crab Credit: Jiwon Kim

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

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Ingredients

• 375 g spaghetti
• 150 g raw picked crab meat, defrosted
• ½ cup dill sprigs, roughly chopped, plus extra to serve
• ½ cup Thai basil, roughly chopped, plus extra to serve
• stracciatella, to serve

Pepper sauce

• 2 eschallots
• 5 garlic cloves
• 2 long red chilli
• 1 tbsp black peppercorns, cracked
• 1 tbsp white peppercorns, cracked
• 50 g salted butter, diced
• 1 tbsp yellow bean sauce
• 2 tbsp anchovy brine (Colatura di Alici)
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce

Crab bisque

• 300 g blue swimmer crab shells
• 1½ tbsp tomato paste
• ½ cup (125 ml) white wine
• ½ fennel bulb, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• 2 cups (500 ml) water

You will need to start this recipe a day ahead.

Instructions

1. Begin the crab bisque a day before. In a large, heavy-based saucepan, pan-fry the crab shells, until they are evenly coloured, then add the tomato paste and stir to coat. Deglaze the pan with the white wine, then add the sliced fennel, garlic and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 1 hour to infuse the crab flavours. Strain with a fine mesh strainer, then refrigerate overnight.
2. In a large saucepan of boiling water, cook the spaghetti according to the package directions.
3. To make the pepper sauce, combine the eschallots, garlic, chilli and peppercorns in a small food processor, then blitz and set aside.
4. While the pasta is cooking, melt the salted butter in a large frying pan. When hot, add the blended peppercorn mixture and sauté. Stir through the yellow bean sauce, anchovy brine and light soy sauce. Stir through the cherry tomatoes and cook, stirring, until caramelised.
5. Once the cherry tomatoes have caramelised, stir through the raw crab meat and crab bisque in the pan. Simmer for 4-5 minutes.
6. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and add to the crab pepper sauce and toss well to combine. Add the roughly chopped herbs and toss well to combine.
7. Divide the black pepper crab spaghetti between plates and sprinkle with extra dill and Thai basil. Spoon over the stracciatella and serve.   

Photography by Jiwon Kim.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

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Pasta With Punch

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