Hand-cut Spaghettini, Spanner Crab, Tomato, Smoked Butter and Citrus Pasta - Chef Recipe by Amit Kumar Kashyap.

Ingredients

Pasta dough:

9 egg yolks
285g 00 flour
2 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs cold water
Pinch of salt

Tomato water:

2kg cooking tomatoes

Prawn oil:

1kg prawn shells
1 brown onion
1 celery stalk
1 carrot
2 fresh bay leaves
4 sprigs lemon thyme
1 Tbs tomato paste
1L olive oil

Smoked butter:

100g unsalted butter, diced
2g smoking chips

Pangrattato:

1 loaf day-old sourdough bread
1 clove garlic
100mL olive oil
10g salt

160g spanner crab
60g heirloom tomatoes
10g parsley
3g orange zest

Method

Pasta dough:

Combine eggs, flour, olive oil and salt in a food processor and blend on high for two minutes.

Check consistency until moist. If consistency is too dry, turn the machine back on and add water one teaspoon at a time until consistency is correct.

Place mixture in a vacuum bag and seal.

Store in fridge for rest up to 30 minutes before use.

Tomato water:

Roughly dice the cooking tomatoes.

Place tomatoes into a food processor and blend on high until smooth. Add a pinch of sugar if tomatoes are not ripe enough.

Line a large sieve with muslin cloth and place it over a large bowl or jug (1 litre). Pour the tomato mixture into the sieve, then tie the ends of the muslin cloth together with cooking twine.

Place into the fridge and allow to hang overnight. You should yield approximately 500mL of tomato water.

Prawn oil:

Start by cracking, breaking, or chopping the prawn shells into pieces.

Place a large heavy-based pot on high heat, then add a few tablespoons of olive oil. Sauté the carrot, onion and celery until soft. Add the shells and tomato paste and continue to cook for a further 5-8 minutes.

Add the bay leaves and thyme and carefully pour the remaining oil into the pot, ensuring that all ingredients are covered. Leave on high heat for 5 minutes, then reduce to low to cook for a further 3 hours. Allow to cool for at least 2 hours afterwards.

Strain through a colander and allow the oil to drain off the solids, before discarding the solids. Strain the liquid through a muslin cloth.

Once oil has completely cooled, transfer to a squeeze bottle.

Smoked butter:

Place the unsalted diced butter in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

Fill the smoking gun head with smoking chips, before placing the rubber hose underneath the plastic wrap and closing off any air gaps.

Turn on the smoking g
un and light the chips with a lighter. Ensure the bowl is filled with smoke and allow to infuse into the butter for at least 10 minutes.

Pangrattato:

Preheat your oven to 150 C.

Remove the crusts from day-old sourdough and dice into rough 2 cm cubes. Blend in a food processor with a clove of garlic until it becomes a crumb.

Place breadcrumbs in a bowl and pour olive oil in. Mix with your hands to ensure it is coated evenly.

Place breadcrumbs onto an oven tray and bake on 150 C for 5 minutes. Remove the tray and mix, before repeating the process until the breadcrumbs are golden brown. Allow to cool.

Spaghettini:

Remove the dough from the vacuum bag and flatten it slightly on a lightly-floured surface. Roll it evenly through a pasta machine, reducing the thickness setting each time, until the dough is 0.5 cm thick.

Cut out sheets measuring 20 cm x10 cm from the dough. Using a chitarra pasta cutter, slide pasta sheets into long strands.

Twirl the strands into individual nests weighing approximately 100g each and dust lightly with flour.

Cooking procedure:

Cook the spaghettini in a large pot of boiling water until firmly al dente (one minute). Reserve some pasta water.

Heat up a saucepan with tomato water, butter, diced heirloom tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes soften.

Add spaghettini and spanner crab to the pan with some pasta water. Toss well and coat to start the process of emulsion.

Add parsley and orange zest, continuing to toss well.

To finish, add smoked butter, olive oil and water to create an emulsified sauce. Taste and correct seasoning, if required.

Serve in a pasta bowl, and finish with a drizzle of prawn oil and a sprinkling of pangrattato.

Recipe provided by Braddon Merchant