Adam Liaw's orecchiette with crab, tomato and chilli

Chilli, crab and tomato aren't just the ingredients for a Singaporean classic. They're perfect partners with pasta, too.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 garlic cloves, squashed
• 1 bird's eye chilli, roughly chopped
• 1 large red chilli, roughly chopped
• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• ¼ cup white wine
• 700g tomato passata
• 500g dry orecchiette pasta
• salt and black pepper, to season
• 140g picked blue swimmer crab meat
• 50g butter

METHOD

1. In a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic and chillies together to a coarse paste.
2. Heat a large frying pan over low-medium heat and add the oil. Fry the paste for about 5 minutes until fragrant. Just before the garlic starts to brown, add the white wine and bring to a simmer. Simmer for a minute, then add the passata, season well with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and add salt. Cook the orecchiette according to packet directions, checking the pasta 2 minutes before the end of the cooking time.
4. Strain the pasta when al dente and add to the sauce mixture with about ¼ cup of the pasta water, the crab meat and the butter. Toss to emulsify the butter and pasta water with the sauce.

Serves 4

This recipe is from episode one of Good Food Kitchen season 2, screening on 9Now.