Crab feast: Dungeness does a Christmas Eve tradition proud

More than a few last-minute shoppers have come up short. What Dorene Centioli-McTigue's Italian grandparents failed to find their first year in Seattle was the essential fish for their annual Christmas Eve pasta. What they did encounter was plenty of Dungeness crab, so they created a new tradition with the crustacean: two-part cracked crab and pasta in a homemade tomato sauce redolent of garlic and basil. That was in 1890. The dish doesn't miss a December 24 appearance on the Centioli table to this day.

The celebration starts with flutes of Moscato d'Asti--a fruity, slightly sweet, spritzy wine (Italians drink it on Christmas morning too)--with home-canned vegetable antipasti and garlic- and anchovy-laced bagna cauda for dipping raw veggies and crusty bread. With the delicious mess of crab and pasta, the Centiolis serve spinach or broccolini sauteed with garlic and pour a Brunello or a Cabernet. Gelato and scalidi--Italian fried cookies--follow.

When it comes to food for feasts, you don't exactly have to make do on the West Coast.

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Italian Crab and Pasta

PREP AND COOK TIME: About 1 hour

MAKES: 6 servings

NOTES: Provide nut or crab crackers and plenty of napkins or wet towels with this dish.

  6 tablespoons olive oil
  3 Dungeness crabs (about 2 lb. each), cooked, cleaned, and cracked
  2 cans (28 oz. each) Italian-style peeled tomatoes
  3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1/4 cup thinly slivered fresh basil leaves or 1 tablespoon dried basil
  1 pound dried angel hair pasta or fresh linguine
  4 ounces shelled cooked crab Salt and pepper
  3 to 4 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley

1. Pour olive oil into a 12-inch frying pan (with sides at least 2 in. tall) or 6- to 8-quart pan over medium heat. When warm, add crabs in the shell and cook, stirring occasionally, until juices leak into pan, 5 to 7 minutes. With tongs, transfer crab pieces to a large serving bowl; cover and keep warm in a 200[degrees] oven.

2. Add tomatoes (including juice), garlic, and basil to pan. With a wooden spoon, scrape any crab bits from bottom of pan. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Boil gently, uncovered, stirring occasionally and crushing tomatoes with a potato masher or spoon and reducing heat as sauce thickens, until sauce is thick and reduced to about 4 1/2 cups, about 30 minutes. Remove from heat. Spoon about a third of the sauce over crabs in the shell; cover loosely and return to oven.

3. About 15 minutes before sauce is done, in a 6- to 8-quart pan over high heat, bring 3 to 4 quarts water to a boil. Add pasta, stir to separate, and cook just until barely tender to bite, 3 to 4 minutes for dried angel hair pasta, about 2 minutes for fresh linguine. Drain.

4. Over low heat, add the shelled cooked crab to remaining tomato sauce; stir occasionally until hot, 1 to 2 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour drained pasta into sauce and mix well.

5. Mound pasta in a wide, shallow serving bowl. Remove crab from oven and sprinkle both crab and pasta with parsley.

Per serving: 587 cal., 28% (162 cal.) from fat; 38 g protein, 18 g fat (2.4 g sat.); 69 g carbo (4.2 g fiber); 794 mg sodium; 128 mg chol.

Bagna Cauda

PREP AND COOK TIME: About 30 minutes

MAKES: 6 appetizer servings

NOTES: If you don't have a fondue pot, pour the bagna cauda into a small bowl to serve; if it gets too cold, reheat it as necessary in a microwave oven.

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1/4 cup (1/8 lb.) butter
3/4 cup olive oil
  3 tablespoons minced garlic
  1 can (2 oz.) anchovies, drained and minced
  3 to 4 cups assorted raw vegetables: red or white Belgian endive
    leaves, fresh fennel slices, celery sticks, red or yellow bell
    pepper strips, or zucchini slices
    Baguette slices

1. In a 1- to 1 1/2-quart pan over medium heat, melt butter. Add olive oil, garlic, and anchovies; stir until mixture is bubbling.

2. Meanwhile, arrange vegetables on a platter and baguette slices in a bowl.

3. Pour bagna cauda into a 1 1/2- to 2-cup fondue pot and set over a candle or medium-low alcohol or canned-heat flame (see notes); stir mixture often and adjust heat as needed so garlic doesn't burn. Serve with vegetables and baguette slices.

Per serving: 344 cal., 94% (324 cal.) from fat; 3 g protein; 36 g fat (8.8 g sat.); 4.3 g carbo (1.1 g fiber), 366 mg sodium; 26 mg chol.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHRISTINA SCHMIDHOFER

COPYRIGHT 2004 Sunset Publishing Corp.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group