Crab with linguine

Serves 4

For this simple pasta dish to be really good it should be generously laced with crab and bound with good olive oil.

300g/10oz linguine
1 red chilli, roughly chopped, seeds left in
1 medium bunch of flat-leaf parsley
80ml/31/4oz fruity extra-virgin olive oil
500g/1lb white crab meat
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
The zest and juice of 1 lemon

Place a large pan of salted water on to boil. Drop in the pasta and cook until it is soft, but still retains a distinct bite – around eight minutes. Drain and set aside.

Chop the chilli into fine rounds, but don't take out the seeds. Remove the leaves from the parsley and chop finely. Place a medium pan on top of the stove, turn the heat to medium, pour in a third of the olive oil and warm through. Add the chilli and stir. Next, add the crab, stir again to coat it in oil and gently warm it through.

Add the linguine and cook for a further two minutes, tossing with tongs to ensure that the pasta heats through and the crab is distributed. When the pasta is really hot, pour in the rest of the oil and season generously with salt. Remove from the heat and squeeze over the lemon juice. Finally, add the chopped parsley, lemon zest and a couple of grindings of black pepper. Divide into warm bowls and serve at once.