Cooks on the East and West Coast now have access to great fresh crab meat, and if you can resist eating it straight from the container or tossing it with a little mayonnaise, it can make a full meal. Fresh crab meat makes the pasta sauce so luxurious that no other dish can provide this with so little work.



Recently, I found fresh crab meat for less than $20 a pound from Maine. It costs more or less the same if you are looking for crab meat from Maryland. "Jumbo meat" is the more expensive than "claw meat" and "lump lump". Just shop around you'll get some fresh crab meat at some really attractive prices.

If you intend making a pasta dish, you will get the claw meat for $15 a pound. Jumbo lump is a bit more costlier at $25 a pound. If you wish to buy freshly picked Dungeness crab, you can look at the West Coast fish markets where it sells for $25 a pound.

You can also use crab meat packed in tins or containers if you can't get fresh ones. They are often pasteurized and packed in containers and then refrigerated. It costs almost the as fresh meat but it is picking up in terms of popularity with crab meat eaters.

It's a second choice but no a terrible one. The fresh crab meat has some intense flavor which may not found in crabs in containers or pasteurized crab.

It's very easy to cook the crab meat. Here is how you do it:

1) Use crab meat, garlic, olive oil and a chili or two.

2) Turn off the heat when the garlic turns "gold" not brown.

3) As soon as the garlic starts coloring, you can add a cup of cherry tomatoes.

4) Continue cooking till the tomatoes collapse.

5) Just heat the crab meat. Ensure that you are not cooking the crab meat as it is already cooked before picking.

There are lot of pasta shapes which you can use with the crab meat. I have not found the right pasta shape, but it doesn't really matter. Just make sure that you shop for the right crab meat instead.

--Pasta With Crab--

~ 1 pound pasta

~ 1/2 pound crab meat, or more

~ 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

~ 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves

~ 2 dried red chilies, or to taste

~ 2 tablespoons slivered or minced garlic

~ Salt to taste

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and salt it. Put oil, garlic, chilies and a pinch of salt in a saucepan large enough to hold cooked pasta and turn heat to medium-low. Cook, shaking pan, until garlic just begins to color; turn off heat.

When water boils, cook pasta. When it is just about done, turn heat under oil back to low and add crab; stir once or twice. Drain pasta (reserve a bit of cooking water), and toss it in crab sauce to coat. If mixture seems a bit dry, add reserved cooking water or more olive oil. Stir in parsley, adjust seasoning, and serve.

Yield: 3 or 4 servings.