Pasta in Crab Pate

I cooked this a week ago for no-meat Fridays, an uncle sent a few crabs in the morning, they were very cute clawing and crawling everywhere *grins*, and we had some spaghetti noodles in stock, so I decided on a pasta dish for lunch.

I'm joining the bandwagon, my first food meme - Presto Pasta Nights, hope I don't disappoint. It is hosted at Chez Cayenne this week, and though I am running late, I hope they'll love me still :)

Pate is, generally, a mixture of ground meat and fat minced into a spreadable paste with common additions of vegetables, herbs, spices and wine. I'm not exactly sure if what I made can be considered as such but it looks like one, so can we just pretend that it is *lol*. Anyway, it has the making of a pate - 1.) ground meat = crab meat 2.) fat = butter 3.) veggies = onions & garlic 4.) herbs and spices = dried basil, salt, pepper - see!


Anyway, here's the recipe, enjoy!

You'll need:

• crabs (the fresher the better)
• pasta noodles (whatever you have in hand will do)
• garlic, minced
• onion, minced
• butter
• salt
• ground black pepper
• dried basil

You just have to:

• Cook the crabs. Boil the crabs in a little amount of water with a sprinkle of salt until the shell turns orange-y red. Here come's the hard part, you have to take the crab meat off the shell, I didn't use the aligue (crab roe) as I am allergic to it but I guess, if you want to, you can. Set it aside.
• Cook the pasta noodles according to package instructions. But as this is an oil-based pasta dish, be sure to season the water with the right amount of salt or an all-purpose seasoning to give it it's own distinct taste. Drain and set aside.
• Heat a little oil before melting half a slab of butter in a pan, big enough to handle the pasta tossing later on.
• Saute the minced garlic and onion until the onion is translucent or until the aroma fills the kitchen.
• Add the crab meat, mash it as you saute.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Drop the pasta noodles and toss.
• Sprinkle with dried basil leaves, toss some more, and you're done.
• Let it sit in the pan for a while, the oil will hold better on the noodles as it cools, and it's ready to be serve.

Wanna meet the cutie crabbies? Here you go -

Have a good weekend everyone!