- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 small shallot, finely chopped
- 1 small garlic clove, finely grated
- 18-ounce container crème fraîche, room temperatureKosher salt
- 6 ounces fresh or dried fettuccine or tagliatelle
- 10 ounces cooked Dungeness, king, or jumbo lump crabmeat, picked over
- ½ lemon
- ½ cup tarragon leaves
- 1 teaspoon piment d’Espelette or Aleppo-style pepper or ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Step 1
Heat oil and butter in a medium skillet over medium. Cook shallot and garlic, stirring often, until soft and golden, about 4 minutes. Add in crème fraîche and cook until mixture is slightly thickened, about 3 minutes.
Step 2
Meanwhile, cook pasta in a pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until very al dente, about 3 minutes (for fresh pasta). Drain, reserving ½ cup pasta cooking liquid.
Step 3
Using tongs, transfer pasta to skillet with sauce and add crabmeat. Finely grate zest from lemon over pasta and squeeze in about 1 tsp. juice. Cook pasta, tossing constantly and thinning sauce with a few tablespoonfuls of pasta cooking liquid if needed, until pasta is glossy and sauce is the consistency of heavy cream, about 3 minutes. Add tarragon, season with salt, and toss a few more times to wilt tarragon.
Step 4
Transfer pasta to a platter and sprinkle with piment d’Espelette.