How to Get a Strong Flavor in Crab Alfredo
Crab Alfredo is a dish made with a creamy alfredo sauce and crab meat served over fettucine or another type of pasta. Get the strongest flavor by using fresh ingredients and by including a little extra of the ingredients with the strongest flavors. If you want your dish to have a strong crab taste, include extra crab meat, or if you would prefer a strong alfredo taste, add extra cheese to your alfredo sauce. In addition, serving the sauce over egg-based noodles enhances the flavor of the whole dish. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Large pot
- Live crabs
- Crab-cracking tool
- Egg-based fettucine noodles
- Large, heavy skillet
- Heavy cream
- Butter
- Grater
- Parmigiano-Reggiano
Instructions
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Cook Fresh Crabs
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1
Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
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2
Place the live crabs in the pot of water. Boil blue crabs for about 6 minutes or dungeness crabs for 8 to 10 minutes.
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3
Pull the crabs out of the boiling water with tongs, rinse under cold running water and set the crabs aside to cool.
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4
Harvest the crab meat from the legs and body by cracking them open with a crab-cracking tool. You will need 8 oz of crab meat for the dish; add more for an even stronger crab flavor.
Prepare Fettucine Alfredo
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5
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
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6
Place 8 to 9 oz of fettucine noodles in the water and cook until the pasta is al dente (slightly firm). This can take anywhere from 4 to 12 minutes depending on the freshness and thickness of the noodles.
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7
Drain the fettucine, reserving about 1/2 cup of the cooking water for later.
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8
Put 1/2 cup heavy cream, 1/4 cup butter, 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper in a heavy skillet and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Although some recipes call for half and half, heavy cream will produce a richer flavor.
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9
Grate 1/3 to 1/2 cup of high-quality Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Using the best cheese you can afford will increase the strength of the flavor in the alfredo sauce.
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10
Turn off the heat under the simmering cream and butter sauce. Stir in the fettucine, Parmigiano-Reggiano and about 1/4 cup of the reserved cooking water. Add more of the reserved cooking water if necessary to thin the sauce.
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11
Serve fettucine alfredo onto plates or bowls and top with chunks of fresh crab meat.
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1
References
- Photo Credit dungeness crab image by Mat Hayward from Fotolia.com
