Spanner Crab Spaghetti Arrabbiata

Name: In this unique dish, each guest gets to open their own dinner!
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 200 g Spaghetti; 100 g Spanner Crab; 1 small onion, diced; 2 cloves of garlic, minced; 2 teaspoon of chilli flakes; 400 ml homemade passata; 100 ml dry white wine; 30 ml olive oil; 30 g butter; 1 cup basil leaves *basically a handful; Salt, pepper, parmesan to liking

In this unique dish, each guest gets to open their own dinner!

Rated 4.0 stars by 9 users

Servings

Cook Time

25 minutes

Okay, first up this dish is hot. Like, hot hot. And secondly there’s wine that’s not cooked off because, well… wine. When I first had this dish, the waiter gave you a pair of scissors and let you cut it open… After a full-face steam, I looked down and saw the dish in front of you today.

This is something that you can cook in bulk (I’ve done it for 8 people at a time) earlier in the day and put in the fridge to then reheat in the oven when guests arrive. Not a single person hasn’t been impressed with cutting open their twine on their little pasta bundle and looking to see what’s inside *hint don’t tell them beforehand!

Image of In this unique dish, each guest gets to open their own dinner!

Ingredients

200 g Spaghetti
100 g Spanner Crab
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 teaspoon of chilli flakes
400 ml homemade passata
100 ml dry white wine
30 ml olive oil
30 g butter
1 cup basil leaves *basically a handful
Salt, pepper, parmesan to liking

Directions

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius / 350 Fahrenheit if eating straight away. Otherwise dish can be prepared earlier and heated later
Place spaghetti in pot of boiling salted water
In a pan on low/medium add the oil, garlic, chilli and onions after the onions begin to soften deglaze with the white wine, add int the passata and salt and pepper to taste
Once spaghetti is pre al dente (3 minutes before it’s ready) and in pan on low to soak up the sauce with a ladle full of pasta water, the butter, the spanner crab and a small handful of rough torn basil
To make the paper parcel. Over a bowl tear off two square sheets of baking paper. Drop the spaghetti into the middle of the paper. Be sure to spoon over additional sauce, a drop of white wine and place a basil leaf on top. If you are going to put these aside and reheat later add in a splash of additional pasta water
To seal the parcel, pick up opposite corners of the first paper and twist together so its air tight. Repeat with the second layer and tie off with twine
Place in oven to finish cooking for 10 minutes. Or into the fridge of you are going to serve later. If serving later they will need 20 minutes in the oven to cook through.
To serve place parcels in a plate and get your guest to open with a pair of scissors. Add more parmesan and fresh torn basil on top.

Recipe Note

This dish is second only to James Gandolfini eating pasta in The Sopranos for getting me so interested in cooking. And over a decade later you reading this… life’s weird like that hey.