Crab & Samphire Trofie

Aside from a couple extra kilos from having too much fun, the only thing I brought back from our trip to Puglia was a box of trofie. It's not even typical to the Puglia region, but it looked interesting so I bought it anyway. The small, wormy spirals are typically eaten with pesto but I thought that a bit boring, so it was stashed away until I could think of something better to do with it.



Turns out I didn't have to wait long, as a dinner at Polpetto included a dish of Devon crab and sea purslane (I think?) with trofie. So good it was that I set out the next day to recreate it. A quick stop at F. C. Sopers of Nunhead, my local fishmonger, and I was all set. Sea purslane was swapped out for samphire, its salty strands adding crunch. My recreation wasn't quite as good, but then I wasn't three sheets to the wind as the night before. Everything tastes even better when you're drunk, especially if you waited 40 minutes for a table. I reckon adding an extra hunk of butter would do the trick, though.



Crab & Samphire Trofie



Serves 2



200gr trofie

2 tbsp brown crab meat

1 small glass of white wine

1/2 a small onion

3 cloves of garlic

2 tbsp white crab meat

A handful of radishes

1 egg yolk

1/2 a lemon

A healthy knob of butter

A few sprigs of parsley, minced



Slice the radishes thinly and set aside. Put plenty of salted water on to boil for the pasta. Blanch the samphire ad refresh. In a little oil, sweat the onion and garlic until it's translucent and soft. Add the glass of white wine and simmer to reduce by at least half. Stir in the brown crab meat and take off the heat. By now your pasta should be almost ready. Whisk the yolk in a bowl with the lemon juice and add the samphire. When the pasta is cooked, drain reserving a couple tablespoons of the pasta water. Add the pasta to the brown crabmeat mixture, then add the lot to the egg yolk, tossing it so that all the pasta is coated well. Garnish with the minced parsley and plenty of black pepper. Top with a tablespoon each of the white crabmeat.



For any leftover crab and samphire, you can make this.