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Angel Hair Pasta with Crab Cakes, Roasted Red Peppers Sweet Corn and Basil

This luxurious dish features succulent crab cakes in a delicate nest of angel hair pasta. The fine, delicate strands of angel hair have a delightful mouth feel, particularly when paired with other subtle flavors and textures, although its small size does make it the most challenging of pastas to cut or extrude. Living in western Massachusetts, it’s not always easy to come by good quality crab, but we do occasionally get fresh crabmeat from Maine that is of excellent quality and reasonably priced. This crab cake recipe uses the maximum amount of crabmeat,  held together with just enough egg and panko in unison with the subtle but essential seasoning. But the key to this dish coming out perfectly is in the mise en place. You must wait to cook the crab cakes and pasta until just before serving.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 batch Perfect Pasta Dough
  • 2–3 red peppers
  • 1 fresh cob of sweet corn
  • 2 tbsp fresh basil, sliced into thin ribbons

Crab cakes

  • 8oz crab meat
  • 1/4 cup panko or other bread crumb
  • 1 egg
  • 1/8 cup buttermilk or yogurt
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 20 twists black pepper
  • 1 tsp mustard
  • 1 teaspoon chili sauce
  • 1/8th tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tbsp mayonnaise

Remoulade

  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 /2 tsp mustard
  • 2 tbsp hot sauce
  • 1 tbsp minced capers
  • 2 minced anchovies (optional)
  • 1 clove minced garlic
  • black pepper and salt

Instructions

  1. Start your peppers roasting at 350° until soft and tender.
  2. Prepare your Perfect Pasta Dough. Allow to rest covered for at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours.
  3. When you assemble your pasta dough, make sure it is stiff and dry. Use plenty of dusting flour when rolling out your sheets. If you are using an extruder, follow the manufacturer’s formula for angel hair. 
  4. When the sheet length gets over 15 inches, cut the in half to keep it manageable. Let your sheets rest on the roller between passes, especially if you notice the dough shrinking back after a roll. This means it needs to sit for 5-10 minutes.
  5.  Mix your crab cake ingredients and set aside.
  6. Mix your remoulade and set aside.
  7. Cut your corn off the cob.
  8. prepare the basil chiffonade. Stacking the basil leaves and roll into a tight cylinder, then make fine, ribbon-like cuts.
  9. Start your pasta water to boil. 
  10. heat butter in your saute pan. Form crab cake mix into 3/4-inch-thick patties. 
  11. Crab cakes go in the pan first; then add pasta to boiling water. If you want some extra crispiness, dredge crab cakes with panko just before sauteing. Saute until dark golden brown, about 3 minutes per side.
  12. Meanwhile, boil pasta for 1-3 minutes, add sweet corn, and boil for another 2 minutes until pasta is cooked.
  13. Drain any excess water from the pasta and grate in cheese to thicken. Retain some pasta water adjust consistency. Add roasted red peppers. 
  14. Plate pasta. Place crab cakes on top, followed by remoulade and basil chiffonade.

  • Author: Ben Lester

Find it online: https://localgrain.org/angel-hair-pasta-with-crab-cakes-roasted-red-peppers-sweet-corn-and-basil/