Crab, fennel and chilli linguine with crab toasts

I first had this crab linguine at the Alice Lisle Inn, a charming 18th century inn tucked away on a quiet gentle track in the New Forest. There was just a tiny spoonful of freshly chopped red chilli so not to overpower the delicate white crab meat, and a crab toast served beside it – essentially, a big soft chewy crouton smothered in crab pâté.

I used this recipe for the linguine http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2006/jan/14/features.weekend11 (the first one on the page) but omitted the fennel seeds, using only the white crab meat and setting the brown crab meat aside for the pâté, as well as decorating each bowlful of pasta with a slice of red chilli.

For the crab toasts, I used this recipe for the pâté – made with an awful lot of butter – http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/recipes/crab-pacirct-501473.html but used all brown crab meat and served it spread generously onto a thick slice of ciabatta, brushed with extra virgin olive oil and popped under the grill to crisp up.

To make it more colourful, I threw together some crispy green salad leaves –I love the sweetness and crunchiness of Romaine lettuce at the moment offset by the sharpness of watercress leaves – and served it up family-style on the table for people to help themselves. This is now my go-to main for summer entertaining at the moment just because it’s pretty easy to put together and delicious.