Crab Some Garlic and Make Some Noodles
I was turkey-ed out. We hit the farmer’s market in town and came away with some cute Delicata and Butternut Squash, onions, fresh spinach, and some FRESH LUMP CRABMEAT. I immediately thought of a dish that calls for crab, is simple to make, and is perfect for my post-prandial Thanksgiving sluggishness. A riff on the Vietnamese fusion restaurant Crustacean’s iconic Roasted Crab with Garlic Noodles. Yeah baby, bring it on.
If you Google Garlic Noodles you will be overwhelmed with a gajillion recipes and YouTube videos for this dish (it’s that good). Lucky for you I have already done this step and have arrived at a scrumptious mash-up of these recipes.
The Wisdom of MOM
When perusing through the countless Garlic Noodle recipes in the foodiverse, I noticed that they all reminded me of my Mom’s Noodle dish. My dad did most of the cooking in our house but there were a couple of dishes my mom made that we all loved. Incredibly simple but perfect kid food and the perfect dish to share, when you are all grown up, with your kids. My mom’s dish consisted of Chinese egg noodles, butter, ketchup or oyster sauce, salt & pepper. That’s it. Guess what, the famous garlic noodles everyone raves about aren’t much more work than this.
Let’s start at the very beginning…
Just a “smidge” of garlic and a “bit” of butter. Saute’ over medium-low heat, you don’t want to brown the garlic. Hand-chop your garlic, don’t use a garlic press. It makes a difference, trust me.
The Sauce
There are quite a few variations to the sauce. I like the combination of Oyster Sauce, Maggi (kinda like soy sauce), and Fish Sauce. You could definitely substitute a light Soy Sauce for Maggi Sauce. I add sugar to the sauce, either granulated or brown sugar works. I am on a raw sugar kick so I used turbinado. That’s pretty much it for the ingredients! I have seen recipes that add toasted sesame oil. Might try a smidge next time.
This could easily be made into a vegetarian dish by omitting the fish sauce and using a vegetarian oyster sauce and soy sauce or Maggi sauce. Serve with grilled or sauteed mushrooms, King Trumpet mushrooms or shiitake mushrooms would be totally work.
The Noods
Spaghettini is my favorite pasta for this dish but any long pasta will work. The thinner the pasta (like angel hair or capellini) you use, the more surface area there is, so I would hold back some of the pasta when adding it to the sauce. Try cooking the pasta in a skillet, a tip from Kenji Lopez-Alt of Serious Eats. The starchy water from the pasta can be used for the sauce in your dish.
The Cheese
Throw the no cheese with seafood rule out the door. This dish includes Parmesan Cheese for both flavor and texture in the dish.
The Garnish
Green onions, cilantro…whatever floats your boat. I threw in some corn, you could add baby spinach to the noodles for some green. I mean who doesn’t like spinach sauteed in garlic?
Literally, folks, reading this post takes longer than making these noodles. Enjoy!
Garlic Noodles
Ingredients
- 16 ounces Thin spaghetti substitute linguini fini or Chinese egg noodles or Angel Hair
- 6 tablespoons Unsalted butter
- 10-12 cloves Garlic peeled and finely chopped or coarsely mashed with a mortar and pestle (please don't use a garlic press)
da Sauce
- 1 tbsp Oyster sauce (Lee Kum Kee with boy and woman on label) or vegetarian oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp Maggi substitute soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Fish sauce preferably Red Boat
- 1 tbsp Brown sugar sub granulated sugar or raw sugar
da Toppings
- 2-3 Scallions chopped
- 1/4 cup Cilantro leaves optional
- 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese grated
Adds (optional)
- 1 cup Fresh lump crabmeat
- 8 Grilled shrimp or scallops
- Fresh spinach, corn, Add at the same time pasta is added to sauce
- 1 tsp Toasted sesame oil optional, add with oyster, soy, and fish sauces
Instructions
- Cook the noodles/pasta according to package instructions. Reserve some of the pasta cooking water.
- Heat butter in a large skillet over medium heat and add the garlic. Cook for approximately 5 minutes, until very lightly caramelized, don't brown. Add oyster sauce, Maggi or soy sauce, fish sauce, and sugar. Stir to heat and blend.
- Toss in the cooked pasta and cheese. If the pasta seems dry, add reserved pasta water a couple of tablespoons at a time until desired consistency. Top with additional Parmesan Cheese and green onions. Serve!
Notes
Top with lump crab meat or grilled shrimp or scallops. I personally don't think meats pair as well. But hey, it's your noodles. Go for it. If you are trying to cut down on carbs, add corn, julienned zucchini or fresh spinach to the pan when the pasta is added. But who are we kidding, this is not a health conscious dish 🙂 To make a vegetarian version. Look for vegetarian oyster sauce, made with mushrooms and pair with grilled or saute' mushrooms.