Serves 8
1/4 cup olive oil, plus more to finish the dish
3 cloves garlic, smashed and roughly chopped
Two 28-ounce cans San Marzano tomatoes, crushed by hand, or 8 cups tomato sauce (with meatballs recipe, below)
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
Large pinch (or two) of red pepper flakes
8 meaty blue crabs
Fine sea salt
2 pounds spaghetti
1 cup fresh basil leaves
Freshly ground black pepper
1. Heat the olive oil in a wide, deep pot over medium-high heat. After a minute or so, add the garlic and cook it for a minute or two, just until it's fragrant. Add the crushed tomatoes, parsley, and red pepper flakes, stir well, and bring to a simmer. Let the sauce cook while you clean the crabs.
2. Turn the heat under the pot up to high, add the crabs, and wait for the sauce to come to a boil. When it does, turn the heat down, medium to medium low, so the sauce simmers gently. After 30 minutes or so, remove the crabs from the tomato sauce and put them in a large, deep serving bowl. Cover to keep warm.
3. Meanwhile, put a large pot of water on to boil and salt it well.
4. Drop the pasta into the boiling water and cook it for a minute less than its package directs: crab sauce likes extra-al-dente pasta. Drain the pasta.
5. Put the pasta on a large serving platter and dress it with a generous hit of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. Pour the sauce over the pasta. Tear the basil leaves in halves or thirds and scatter them over the pasta. Season it with as much black pepper as you can stand. Serve the crabs on the side of the pasta (with another bowl for the shells) and have plenty of napkins around.
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