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Key Ingredient
Cuisine Category
- Cuisine: Modern Australian
- Serves 4 as an entrée
This recipe is inspired by a dish Stefano Manfredi cooked with yabbies at Manta in Woolloomooloo, Sydney, and will work equally well with any crustacean. For best results, use pasta made with eggs (all’uovo).
Ingredients
6 green Balmain bugs (see notes)250g fettuccine
100g butter
2 golden shallots, finely diced
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 cup chopped chervil
Salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Preparation
Drop the chilled bugs in a large saucepan of well-salted, rapidly boiling water. Cook for 5 minutes. Strain and run under cold water to arrest cooking.Rinse and refill saucepan, salt well and return to the boil. When boiling, add the fettuccine.
Meanwhile, turn bugs over and cut down either side of the underside of the tail shell using kitchen scissors. Peel shell back and remove meat. Slice in half and remove the digestive tract (grey thread) running down the middle of the tail meat. Cut meat into bite-sized chunks.
Melt butter in a frying pan. When foaming, add the shallots and sesame seeds, and cook, over a medium heat, stirring frequently, until shallots are soft but not coloured. Add bug meat to the pan and stir well.
Drain the cooked pasta, and add to the pan with the chervil. Toss well to coat in butter. Taste, season with salt and pepper, and serve in warmed bowls.
Notes: If bugs are live, chill them in the freezer for 30-45 minutes to kill them before cooking (see www.rspca.org.au for more details).
Alternative species you could use in this recipe: marron, Moreton Bay bug, prawns, redclaw, rocklobsters, scampi, yabby.
If you enjoyed this Fettuccine with Balmain bugs recipe then browse more Modern Australian recipes, pasta recipes, seafood recipes, easy recipes, entertaining recipes, valentine's day recipes and our most popular hainanese chicken rice recipe.
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Black Butter
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