The other day my friend Nick asked me if my blog was good for the “extreme-budget-conscious” (he’s a tiny bit prone to hyperbole). I exclaimed, “Yes! Of cou—” and then remembered that I had just spent $45 on one pound of canned crab meat (canned, no less), because I became obsessed with this recipe from the New York Times (not from Melissa Clark – shocker!). Coming from Boston to Chicago, one of the things I miss most are the summers filled with fresh, abundant seafood. Friends and I would drive to the beach on the weekends, always stopping along the way for fried clams, lobster rolls, and juicy, garlicky shrimp. There are no seafood shacks in Chicago, but I did find a nice (expensive) fishmonger at Dirk’s Fish, where I procured the aforementioned crab. Which immediately compelled James to joke that if the apocalypse arrived, we would be sitting pretty with our canned crab meat supply (not technically true – it says very specifically on the label that this canned fish is to be refrigerated at all times).

Anyway, I’m obsessed with this recipe because I love crab, and crab plays a prominent, unmistakable role in this dish. My (overpriced) tinned crab was fine, but I swoon to think how you could elevate this dish with fresh, sweet, just plucked-from-the-sea crab meat. If you live on the East Coast, get your hands on fresh crab meat. This dish doesn’t have a lot of ingredients or strong flavors, so quality ingredients is really key here. Besides that, though, this dish is just so darn easy. Cooking the pasta actually takes the longest time, and the sauce literally just involves chopping a bunch of herbs and warming up the crème fraîche. This recipe should be almost a Fuss Factor 0, it’s so breathlessly easy.

Fun Facts Time: Crème fraîche is French for “fresh cream.” Despite the name, however, it isn’t really fresh at all! Instead, it is a thick, soured cream traditionally produced by simply leaving fresh cow’s cream at room temperature. The naturally occurring bacterial cultures not only prevent it from spoiling, but also work to thicken and acidify the cream. Today, European regulations do not allow any ingredients in crème fraîche other than cream and bacterial culture. However, in the U.S. where all dairy is pasteurized (if not ultra-pasteurized), the cream is instead fermented with the addition of buttermilk or yogurt. Crème fraîche may be difficult to find, or can be expensive, but remarkably, it is shockingly easy to make your own! Just mix together heavy cream and buttermilk, let sit at room temperature for half a day, and WATCH SCIENCE HAPPEN! In a pinch, or if you don’t like science, you can substitute sour cream, although crème fraîche is thicker, less tangy, and has a higher fat content and richer flavor than sour cream. If substituting sour cream, take care to just warm the cream, and do not let it simmer, as sour cream can easily curdle over high heat.

Other Things to Note:

• I bumped up the flavors because I wanted to avoid just creamy crab pasta. I left all the pith and seeds of the serrano pepper in because I wanted more heat, and I increased all the herbs.
• Based on other reader comments, I also added a shower of fresh lemon juice at the end, which also helps to cut the creaminess and brighten up the dish.
• Feel free to vary the herbs according to your preferences or stockpiles. According to the New York Times, mint, dill, or chervil would all work well here.

So, Nick, no, this particular recipe is not for the extreme budget conscious. It’s probably for those who chase down (overpriced) fishmongers to have crab on a Wednesday, and who probably sip tea with their pinkies in the air.

We served this with some roasted asparagus. Total time to dinner, including sides: like, 30 minutes.

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Spicy Crab Linguine with Mustard, Crème Fraîche and Herbs

Source: The New York Times

Ingredients

• 1 pound linguine
• 1 cup crème fraîche
• 1 serrano or jalapeño pepper, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• Salt and pepper
• 1 pound cooked crab meat, lump if possible
• 1/4 cup finely chopped chives
• 8 scallions, thinly sliced on an angle
• 2 tablespoons tarragon leaves, roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon basil, roughly chopped
• Freshly squeezed lemon juice

Instructions

• Put a large pot of heavily salted water on to boil. Add the linguine, and cook until al dente.
• While the pasta cooks, warm the crème fraîche over medium heat in a wide skillet. Stir in serrano or jalapeño pepper, mustard, and cayenne and season with salt and pepper. Add crab meat, stir to coat, and heat through, about 2 minutes.
• Drain pasta and add to skillet with a few tablespoons (up to about 1/4 cup) of pasta water. Add the chives, scallions, tarragon, and basil. Toss gently to combine all the ingredients and coat pasta with the sauce. Squeeze fresh lemon juice over the pasta and toss once more. Transfer to a warm serving dish and garnish with additional herbs, if desired.

James first made some garlicky, buttery shrimp about a few months ago, just to go with some leftovers we had, and my first thought was, why don’t we eat this all the time?? And why don’t we eat this on a huge mound of pasta, with some bright green spinach to welcome spring and brightness and sunshine and feeling like we’re on the coast of Spain even though we’re stuck in Chicago, where spring is still sort of playing hard to get in MAY, and all of my anticipatory summer clothes sit collecting dust in my closet…

Luckily, James and I are going to Bermuda next week, which is a good substitute for a Spanish coast I think (bring on the rompers!), and so in preparation, I brought out the bright spring shrimp scampi! I used a recipe from the New York Times (yes, Melissa Clark. I promise I don’t get all my recipes from Melissa Clark, but – come on – just look at her pics!) Shrimp scampi is so easy, but after reading the readers’ comments and doing some additional research, I added a fussier step of simmering the shrimp shells in wine for about 5 minutes for more flavor.

And – you guys – I couldn’t believe how easy shrimp stock was to make. I’ve never done it before, so I didn’t know exactly what I was doing, as you can see from the pictures and the note at the bottom. But basically, you just simmer the shells in wine for five minutes, and you’re left with a fragrant, rich, undeniably seafood-y wine. Not good for drinking, but great for seafood dishes!

Anyway, I also upped all the sauce ingredients because some people complained of not enough sauce, and nobody wants that. We served it with linguine (I bet it’s also amazing with crusty French bread), and I added some pasta water at the end to thicken and bind the sauce to the pasta even more.

We had this with that bright green spinach, sipping the leftover wine, and dreaming of sunny days and balmy nights. Bermuda can’t come soon enough!

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Shrimp Scampi with Linguine

Source: The New York Times

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 8 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup dry white wine or broth
• ¾ teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
• ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 pounds large or extra-large shrimp, preserving the shells if desired
• ⅓ cup chopped parsley, or more to taste
• Freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon
• ¼ – ½ cup cooked pasta water (if serving with pasta)
• Accompaniments: Spaghetti or linguine, or crusty bread

Instructions

• Optional but recommended: Rinse the shrimp shells under cold running water. Heat a saucepan over medium heat and add a drizzle of olive oil. When oil is hot, add the shrimp SHELLS (not the shrimp!) and toss for 30 seconds in the hot oil. Add the wine or broth and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. After five minutes, strain the wine or broth for use. I had about 7/8 of the cup of liquid left after simmering.
• In a large skillet with a lid, melt the butter with olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the wine or broth, salt, red pepper flakes, and lots of black pepper and bring to a simmer. Let wine or broth reduce by half, about 3-4 minutes.
• Add the shrimp into the liquid and spread them out in an even layer, then cover the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shrimp just turn pink and have curled up into a loose "C" shape ("C" stands for "cooked," "O" stands for "overcooked"), 2 to 4 minutes depending upon their size. Stir in the parsley and lemon juice. Toss with pasta or serve with crusty bread.
• A slightly fussier step for serving with pasta: Try the following and you'll have silkier, thicker sauce.

  First, DON'T add the parsley and lemon juice yet - cooked lemon juice can get a bit weird.

  About a minute before both the shrimp and the pasta are done, ladle the pasta water into the sauce. Add the pasta and toss, continuing to cook everything over medium-low heat, about 1-2 minutes, until everything is combined and the sauce has thickened. Add parsley and lemon juice and toss to combine.

Notes:

I clearly didn’t need to simmer all my shrimp shells! Ha! You only need about a cup or so. Freeze the rest for later use or discard.

If making the shrimp wine / stock – to skim or not to skim? That is the eternal question. I did not skim, and did not notice any off flavors.

If you’ve added some pasta water, tossed everything over the heat, and your sauce still looks watery, you might not have simmered off enough wine, or you may have more dilute pasta water (I tend to cook my pasta in as small a pot and as little water as possible). I would suggest you stop cooking, as if you keep going, you’ll overcook the shrimp and that would be sad. Sauce with starch in it also tends to thicken a bit more as it cools, so try to let it rest for a few minutes and it should get thicker.

I cooked one pound of linguine for the above quantity of scampi, and think it was a bit too much. In the future I would probably serve this with about 3/4 of a pound of dried pasta. I also should have added more parsley!

“A minute before the shrimp and the pasta are done”??! How on earth am I supposed to make this happen at the same time?? Yes, I know. The best food is often slightly annoying to make, but that doesn’t mean we should strive for mediocrity! You’ll see in my pictures that my shrimp are a bit overcooked – oops. I try to buy large or jumbo sized shrimp – they usually have a bit more wiggle room when you overcook them. But ultimately, if you want to serve shrimp scampi with pasta, the best way to get all that delicious liquid to adhere to the pasta (and why would you waste even a drop of that magical, buttery, garlicky goodness?) is to toss the hot pasta with the hot sauce immediately, so you’ll have to do some brain calculations to try to finish cooking both at the same time. But in the end – just do the best you can – it will be okay if one or the other is a tad bit overcooked, and nobody is judging you on a weeknight. I would recommend you err on the side of finishing the pasta first – you can drain it, keep it on the side, reserve some pasta water, and wait for the shrimp to be juuuuust about done, then toss everything together. It will be great!

Or, you can just serve the scampi with crusty bread.

Made this? Have some feedback? Let me know! Leave a comment below, or tag #trialbyfryer on Instagram!