Tinned crab is great here, but you could splash out and use fresh white crab meat if available, or use a mixture of white and brown crab meat for a more intense seafood taste. If you want to make this alcohol-free, simply replace the wine with an equal amount of extra fish stock.
We've combined the flavours of a delicious crab chowder and popped them in an indulgent cheesy pasta bake!
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Yields:
4 serving(s)
Prep Time:
20 mins
Cook Time:
1 hr 5 mins
Total Time:
1 hr 25 mins
Cal/Serv:
783
Ingredients
300g
dried macaroni
100g
smoked pancetta, roughly chopped
40g
butter
1
onion, thinly sliced
500ml
semi-skimmed milk
100ml
dry white wine
200ml
fish stock
1Tbsp.
fish sauce
40g
plain flour
300g
sweetcorn, tinned or frozen
125g
mature Cheddar, grated
Large handful parsley, leaves picked and roughly chopped
2
x 145g tins crab meat, drained
Directions
Step 1Preheat oven to 190°C (170°C fan) mark 5. Cook macaroni in a large pan of boiling salted water, according to pack instructions, until just al dente. Drain well and set aside.
Step 2Meanwhile, fry pancetta in a small frying pan over medium heat, until crisp. Drain on a plate lined with kitchen paper.
Step 3Melt butter in a large pan over medium-low heat. Add onion and cook until softened, about 10min.
Step 4Combine milk, wine, stock and fish sauce in a large jug. Add flour to the onion pan and cook, stirring, for 2min. Remove from heat and gradually whisk in milk mixture, beating out any lumps. Return to heat and bubble until thickened, stirring continuously.
Step 5Stir in 1/2 the sweetcorn; cook for 1min. Remove pan from heat, stir in 50g cheese and whizz until smooth with a stick blender. Add parsley, crab, pancetta, pasta, remaining sweetcorn and some seasoning, mix well. Spoon into 2 litre ovenproof dish and sprinkle over remaining 75g Cheddar.
Step 6Cook in oven for 40min, until golden. Serve with a green salad, if you like.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
