Spaghetti With Crabs Weir

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons chopped italian parsley

crushed red pepper flakes -- large pinch 3 pounds live crabs

2 cups tomato sauce -- preferrably

excellent quality homemade sauce coarse salt freshly ground black pepper 1 1/2 pounds spaghetti

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the parsley, red pepper flakes, crabs and tomato sauce; simmer until the crabs are cooked and the tomato sauce has thickened, about 20 minutes.

Remove the crabs, crack and chop them coarsely and return them to the pot. Season with salt and pepper.

Bring a large pot of boiling salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook until al dente. Drain and toss with the crabs and sauce.

Serves 8.

[PER SERVING: 430 calories, 19 g protein, 69 g carbohydrate, 9 g fat (1 g saturated), 27 mg cholesterol, 498 mg sodium, 1 g fiber.]

Notes: *Recipe from Il Grigolo, a coffee house on Elba, Italy. Travel story: "MEDITERRANEAN EXPRESS: Elba's Bounty of Seafood," by Joanne Weir for the San Francisco Chronicle 10/01/1997. In Elba, small sweet crabs called "granchi" are used for this dish. Substitute Dungeness or blue crabs.

Kitpath@earthlink.net 8/28/98