Serious Eats: Recipes
Dinner Tonight: Spaghetti with Crab, Chile, and Mint
[Photograph: Nick Kindelsperger]
Who knew that crab, jalapeños, and mint played so well together? Before I had a version of this dish at Chicago's Cibo Matto, I'd never seen the three mentioned together in the same sentence. But I was astonished by how they balance each other with the pasta. The sweet crab meat is kept in check by the spicy chiles, and the mint somehow cools it all down.
I searched for a while for a good recipe, before settling on this bare-bones one from WNYC. I cut back on the excessive butter, but basically that's it. For crab, I just used the canned stuff from Whole Foods. Some shallots help add a bit more sweetness and the lemon cuts through the butter's richness.
But it's still all about this odd trio. The end result isn't quite as perfect as the restaurant dish, but it is close.