It’s crab season and I saved my two best pasta dishes for this

Crab ravioli in saffron butter vs crab bucatini in bisque

Snow crab season just hit, and I’ve had it three times in two weeks.

Every restaurant’s out here flexing their first-crab dishes. People go wild for it—and honestly, fair enough.

Our local crab is sweet and delicate. Caught in the icy waters of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. It’s giving bougie seafood. And every time I put it on the menu, it’s gone before I get a second bite.

Meanwhile in Italy, they’re just surrounded by four seas like it’s no big deal. Their native crab is granchio—a green shore crab, mostly from Veneto. More earthy, more grassy.

The other night I had a girls night in: wine, cheese, spicy slaw, herb butter, and a couple snow crab legs to crack. Like coastal grandma meets house party.

So I’m sharing two of my ride-or-die snow crab pasta :
Snow crab ravioli in a saffron butter.
Snow crab noodles in its bisque.

And I’ll tell you how to make saffron butter—aka liquid gold. Saffron is the pistil of a flower, it’s pricey, but worth it. That floral-bittersweet just makes sense with seafood.

In Italy, saffron’s been around since the Romans. But shoutout to the Arabs for reintroducing it in the 9th century—since then it’s been the secret for risotto alla Milanese, malloreddus, fregula. Sardinia even got its own PDO zafferano.

And the saffron butter, like the anchovy butter I dropped last week—you’ll wanna keep a stash in your freezer at all times.

Ok. Let’s crack some crab and get into it.

Em

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SNOW CRAB RAVIOLI ALLO ZAFFERANO

Step-by-step reel of how I make these ravioli

FOR 2

Dough: using my Rich Egg Dough recipe—the full batch makes enough for 4, but for this one we’re rolling with half. Save the rest or double the filling if you’re feeling extra.