Photo: John Paul Urizar
Chef Trisha Greentree of beloved Sydney restaurant, Fratelli Paradiso, shares her favourite Italian dishes designed for an alfresco lunch, including this fabulous crab and zucchini tagliatelle. Two delicate ingredients, crab and zucchini, unite in a zesty mascarpone-enriched sauce tossed through golden ribbons of pasta that look and taste like summer.
Ingredients
Method
For pasta dough, combine flour, semolina flour and 1 tsp salt flakes in an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook. Add eggs and 1 tbsp chilled water and knead until a smooth dough forms (8-10 minutes). Wrap dough in plastic wrap and set aside to rest (30 minutes).
Quarter dough, then, working with one piece at a time, feed through pasta machine rollers, starting at widest setting. Lightly flour dough as you fold and feed it through, reducing settings notch by notch until you reach 1mm thick. Dust sheets with semolina flour. Working with one pasta sheet at a time, roll into a tight cylinder and cut into 7mm-thick ribbons for tagliatelle. Unravel, dust well with semolina and hang to dry out slightly on a pasta drying rack while you make the sauce.
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to boil for the pasta.
Meanwhile, heat half the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic, lemon zest and half the basil and sauté until fragrant (1 minute). Add zucchini and sauté until golden and tender (4-6 minutes). Transfer zucchini mixture to a bowl and set aside. Return pan to medium-high heat. Add remaining oil. Once shimmering, add crab and sauté until opaque (2-4 minutes). Reduce heat to low. Stir in zucchini mixture and mascarpone and bring to a simmer.
Meanwhile, cook pasta in pan of boiling water until al dente (2 minutes). Using tongs, carefully transfer pasta to pan with sauce, then gently toss until glossy and coated. Season with white pepper and salt. Divide among serving bowls and scatter with remaining basil to serve.
