A seafood pasta is a delicious way of combining textures and flavours and actually making a small amount of seafood go a lot further to feed a crowd. Both of the following pasta dishes are richly full of flavour while still being very quick and easy to make.

I like to serve Fresh Crab Pasta with very wide noodles of pasta such as pappardelle or fettucine because I just love the way the chunks of crabmeat blend with the wide noodles which are covered in a creamy sauce.

Ingredients

300g dried pappardelle (a broad egg noodle, around half an inch wide)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 clove garlic, finely grated

1/4 teaspoon dried chilli flakes

1 teaspoon finely grated rind of a lemon

about 300g fresh crabmeat, body meat left as chunky as possible

1 cup light cream

a generous squeeze of lemon juice

freshly grated salt and pepper

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

• Cook the pasta according to the directions on the pack and then drain.

• While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil over a low heat in a heavy-based frypan. Fry the garlic, chilli and lemon rind until just softened. Add the crabmeat, cream and lemon juice to the pan and tumble gently until warmed through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

• Combine the pasta and crab sauce, mixing gently. To serve, simply sprinkle the pasta with some chopped parsley and enjoy with some fresh crusty bread to mop up any sauce.

What a rich variety of flavours are in this pasta! This recipe definitely needs some crusty bread for mopping up the delicious sauce.

Ingredients

300g spaghetti

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, very finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, grated

400g tin chopped tomatoes, drained

500g mussels, debearded and cleaned

1 tablespoon chopped basil

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

• Cook the spaghetti according to the directions on the packet. When cooked, rinse the spaghetti with some cold water and toss with a little of the oil to stop it sticking together.

• In a large pot, heat the remaining oil. Add the onion, garlic and tomatoes to the pot and cook for about five minutes or until the onion has softened, and then add the mussels, white wine and chopped basil. Cover the pot, shaking from time to time, until the mussels start to open. When the mussels start to open, add the cooked spaghetti to the pot. Stir together until the mussels have completely opened, discarding any that remain closed.

• Serve with serve with crusty bread and some chopped parsley sprinkled over the top.