Crab Stick Oil Pasta
Enjoy Restaurant-Quality Crab Stick Oil Pasta at Home | Easy Oil Pasta Recipe
Hello everyone! Today, I’ve made a delicious ‘Crab Stick Oil Pasta’ that’s packed with a delightful texture and rich umami flavor. As the name suggests, oil pasta is based on olive oil, highlighting the natural taste of the ingredients. It shares the aromatic charm of garlic and oil, much like Aglio e Olio. For today’s recipe, I’ve added crab sticks to create a more sophisticated and flavorful oil pasta. Honestly, instead of real crab meat, I used imitation crab sticks (kani kama) that I had leftover from making cucumber sushi. However, these imitation crab sticks boast a rich flavor and a similar chewy texture to real crab, making them an excellent substitute! Please enjoy this dish as if it were made with real crab!
By the way, would you like to learn some interesting facts about crabs? (Information source: ‘The Cooking Gentleman’ blog)
– **Identifying Male vs. Female & Taste**: Generally, female blue crabs are considered tastier than males, especially those filled with roe. For color distinction, while both are brown, males tend to have a slightly greenish hue, while females have a darker brown color.
– **The Secret to the Red Color**: When crabs are boiled or steamed, their shells turn a vibrant red due to a natural pigment called ‘astaxanthin’. This compound can produce various colors, but when heated, it breaks its bond with proteins, revealing its inherent red color.
– **Seasonality and Storage**: The spawning season for blue crabs is typically from June to August. In Korea, crab paste made with crabs caught in June is considered the best. Around July, it’s their spawning period, and fishing is prohibited, so many crabs available in August are those caught in June and flash-frozen. Since their freshness deteriorates quickly, if you’re not planning to eat them within a day or two, it’s best to wash them thoroughly with a brush and then store them separately in the freezer. The frozen crab sticks I used today took quite some time to thaw because I stored them whole!
– **Nutritional Powerhouse**: Crabs are rich in ‘sulfur-containing amino acids,’ which are key components of protein and can aid in alcohol detoxification. Additionally, the compound taurine promotes insulin secretion, which can positively impact blood sugar regulation. They are also rich in essential amino acids and vitamins, making them beneficial for growing children, convalescing patients, and the elderly, but particularly excellent for women’s health. Their abundant calcium helps prevent osteoporosis, and chitin (chitosan) prevents fat accumulation in the body and lowers cholesterol levels, making it a valuable ingredient for health and diet foods.
Ingredients
- 4 imitation crab sticks
- 1/2 onion
- 4-5 cloves garlic
- 1 mushroom (button or similar)
- 200g spaghetti pasta
- 1 tomato
- Salt to taste
- Black pepper to taste
Cooking Instructions
Step 1
First, prepare your ingredients. Thinly slice the garlic, and shred the onion. Slice the mushroom into bite-sized pieces. Tear the imitation crab sticks into large chunks for a satisfying texture in the pasta. Chop the tomato into roughly 1cm cubes.
Step 2
Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a rolling boil. Cook the spaghetti according to package directions, but reduce the cooking time by about 1 minute to achieve an al dente texture. Typically, this is around 8 minutes. Reserve about one cup of the pasta water before draining.
Step 3
Heat a skillet over medium heat and add a generous amount of olive oil. Add the sliced garlic and sauté until fragrant and lightly golden brown. Be careful not to burn the garlic; infusing the oil with its aroma is key.
Step 4
Once the garlic is fragrant, add the shredded onion and sliced mushrooms. Sauté together over medium heat until the onions become translucent and the mushrooms soften.
Step 5
When the vegetables are partially cooked, add the torn imitation crab sticks and stir-fry briefly. Finally, add the chopped tomatoes and cook for just another minute or so, being careful not to overcook and make them mushy.
Step 6
Season with salt and black pepper to your taste. Add the drained spaghetti to the skillet. Pour in a little of the reserved pasta water and toss everything together in one direction to emulsify the sauce, coating the pasta evenly. This helps the sauce cling to the noodles.
Step 7
Your delicious Crab Stick Oil Pasta is ready! Serve immediately while warm.
