i hope you had a lovely weekend.  we are in the midst of some lengthy to-do lists around the house but we had some time to relax and enjoy our days together.  we enjoyed a simple {albeit labor intensive} dish of fresh snow crab and penne {recipe below}, a movie night - the dark crystal is a favorite repeat in our house, swimming at my parents house, another lovely meal in the woods and taking the girls out for shrimp tacos and to finally see up - how was your weekend?

the recipe is as follows:

snow crab & penne:

~ 1 lb. penne

~ 1.5 lbs. fresh snow crab legs

~ 2 cloves garlic

~ 2 T. olive oil

~ 2 T. butter

~ handful of fresh basil

~ 1/2 c. freshly grated parmesan

~ salt and pepper

boil the pasta as per the instructions on the package.  meanwhile, begin cracking and cleaning the crab legs.  the easiest way is to utilize a pair of kitchen scissors and cut the legs down the seam - then you can simply fold the length open and extract the meat - a trick my mom taught me.  for the longer pieces - break into bite size pieces.  set this aside.  finely chop the garlic and saute in the olive oil and butter - remove from the heat just as the garlic begins to turn gold.  drain the pasta when it is ready and pour the butter, olive oil and garlic over the penne - toss until coated.  add the crab pieces and salt and pepper to taste.  top with freshly torn basil and parmesan.

*note* i recommend keeping a small bowl of warm clarified butter next to you while you de-shell the crab - you know, to make sure the crab is to your satisfaction.  in fact, i highly recommend this.

*one more note* the addition of the parmesan to a fish based pasta dish is something that evokes a memory of an afternoon in cinque terre...

need dessert?  be sure to check out my strawberry basil bread pudding that appeared on design*sponge on friday...

xoox~jla

p.s.  the originals is now open.

Comments

[Lauren]

that penne pasta looks divine!

[Jen]

Ok, the dark crystal is rad. And I want to take the kids to see UP, so I think maybe that is in order here. And if you ever are in this neck of the woods, crabs are really good and yummy fresh here.

[simply hue]

Wow, I love your site and just added it to my blogroll. You have such gorgeous photos!

[jla]

thank you ladies!

jen - take a box of tissues with you when you see Up - it was amazing - such a wonderful message for the adults as well!

[jla]

p.s. and we'll be in your neck of the woods next summer - shall we make a date for crab?

[rachel]

The dark crystal used to scare the pants off of me when I was a kid. That, and Labyrinth.

I would kill for some crab right now.

[Courtney]

I love the dark crystal :)

[Jen]

YOU WILL?!?

Um, yes. Since I didn't make it there this summer as thought. Oh, we will have a crab feed for sure.

[jla]

it's a date ;) see you in june! xoox