Penne in Tomato Sauce with Crabmeat
Penne in tomato sauce with crabmeat is a simple Italian pasta where plum tomatoes, white wine, and soft onion cook down into a light sauce, then get tossed with flaked crab for sweet briny richness.
YIELD
1 batchPREP
10 minCOOK
30 minREADY
45 minThis is light, fast, Southern Italian pasta of the kind Naples and Amalfi coast cooks make when they want to stretch a little crab into a whole dinner. The sauce is barely a sauce, more of a brothy toss that lets the crab flavor come through clean.
Starting with canned San Marzano or plum tomatoes is the move here, fresh tomatoes are watery out of season and dilute the flavor. Reducing the reserved juices for 10 minutes before adding the tomato pulp concentrates the sauce’s sweetness.
Crab goes in last and only warms through, 3 minutes max. Any longer and the delicate lump turns rubbery and loses its sweet, briny bite. Lump crabmeat or jumbo lump is ideal, skip canned unless there’s truly no alternative.
Cook penne a minute shy of al dente since it finishes in the hot sauce. Toss over medium heat so the pasta absorbs the tomato instead of sitting on top of it, this is a technique the Italians call mantecatura.
Chef Tips
- Pick over crabmeat carefully with your fingers, tiny shell shards ruin the dish fast.
- Reserve a half cup of pasta water before draining, it helps loosen the sauce if it tightens too much.
- Add a good glug of extra virgin olive oil at the very end off the heat for silkiness.
- Don’t add cheese. Italian tradition holds that seafood pasta doesn’t get Parmesan, and the crab flavor is too delicate for it anyway.
Variations
- Add a clove of minced garlic with the onion for more aromatic depth.
- Stir in a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes for gentle heat, a Neapolitan touch.
- Swap crab for lump lobster or bay scallops for a different shellfish lean.
Ingredients
Directions
Heat olive oil in a medium skillet.
Add the onions and parsley; sauté until onions soften, about 3 minutes.
Add reserved juices from the canned tomatoes; simmer until thickened slightly, about 10 minutes.
Add tomatoes and wine; simmer to blend flavors, about 5 Add the crabmeat; simmer until heated through, about 3 Season with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon ground pepper or to taste. Meanwhile, bring 6 quarts water to boil in a soup kettle. Add 1 tablespoon salt and penne; cook until just tender, about 9 minutes. Drain and return penne to soup kettle. Add sauce; toss to combine. Serve immediately.
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