Crab Linguine with Chilli and Watercress

When I was young, my Dad's side of the family used to have (in my opinion) the best Christmas lunches. I'm not talking about the company because that would be too hard a decision, I loved alternating between Mum and Dad's side of the family and spending the day with my cool, older Sydney cousins on Dad's side one year, and then my fun, closer in age cousins in Orange the following year. What made the Sydney Christmas lunch the best for so many years? The seafood.  
In my opinion we had a better array of crustaceans than the Prawn-tastic Buffet at the casino. We didn't pay much attention to the traditional Christmas fare, however there was always the cursory cold ham that would be nibbled on at the end when all the seafood had disappeared, and no doubt would be more appreciated in the coming days after on sandwiches. In the months leading up to Sydney Christmas, I would sit and think about the amazing food we were going to devour; lobster, prawns, freshly-shucked oysters (au natural, thank you very much) and the best thing of all, mud crab. We wouldn't eat seafood like that again for another 2 years. My brother and I loved it when it was Dad's turn to deal with the mud crab. He would arrive home with a large, white Styrofoam box and would place them on the kitchen table. We would hang around the box, eyeing it off and listening intently for the squeaking of the legs as they tried to make their escape. Then carefully Dad would remove them one by one from the box and we would watch them crawl across the kitchen floor for a few minutes before Dad would wrap them up in newspaper and pop them in the freezer "to go to sleep".

The next day, I always remember my Dad and my uncle boiling up the crabs in a large pot on the BBQ and enjoying "a few" beers while they were at it. I think they enjoyed the cooking of those crabs and lobsters just as much as eating them on Christmas Day. 
Now we are all older and those Sydney Seafood Christmases are a happy distant memory, I have been feeling the need to get a crab fix. I am not really the type yet (yet, my friends..the word is yet) to go boiling up a giant muddy on my own, crack it open and then pick out the meat. Just like my fear of roasting my first chicken, I don't want to screw it up. Screwing up the cooking of a crab is far worse than screwing up roasting a chicken. 

So I got my hands on some beautiful freshly picked blue swimmer crab meat. I wanted to make something simple, something that wouldn't take away from the sweetness of the meat. I decided to toss some of the crab through hot linguine and together with a sprinkling of chilli flakes, some peppery watercress, it made a fine dish to quell my crabby needfulness. This is not an overly saucy pasta dish, but once you add some of that important pasta water to the ingredients in the pan, you will find that every strand of linguine is coated with flavour. The main tip? Make sure you have big chunks of crab in there.
Any leftover crab can be mixed with a little mayo and lemon juice and then spread on a crusty baguette and topped with some watercress for a very posh lunch at work the next day!

Crab Linguine with Chilli and Watercress
Serves about 4 
1 packet of linguine
approx 400 g of freshly picked crab meat
good handful of watercress
Small about of olive oil
about 2 tsps of butter
about 2 tsps of dried chilli flakes
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 cup of lemon juice
good slug of white wine
1/4 cup of pasta water (the starchy water that is left when the pasta has boiled)
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Boil the pasta in plenty of salted water.
2. While this is happening, add the oil, butter, garlic and chilli to a pan and fry over a medium heat for about 5 minutes. 
3. Add the lemon juice and fry for a further 5 minutes
4. Add the white wine and continue to simmer this until the sauce has reduced a little.
5. Add the pasta water and continue to simmer until you have a desired consistency
6. Turn the heat to low, add the pasta then the watercress and crab meat. Toss to combine.
7. Serve immediately.