Cooking With Cecilia - Pasta with Crab Roe or Aligue

Brace yourselves folks! This blog entry is about crab roe or in Tagalog "taba ng talangka" or "aligue"  The orange crab roe (commonly referred to as crab fat) is high in cholesterol, so beware.

While I was in Daluyon Resort with some writers, I ordered Pasta with Aligue.  The original menu called for crab roe with mayonnaise, and I asked the chef to hold the mayo.



Out the pasta came, nestled in the orange crab roe. It was heavenly! How do I describe the taste?  You can taste the sea and the richness of the crab roe. There's something sinful about eating crab roe; it's like eating rich chocolate or foie gras -- you don't eat it all the time, but when you do, it's a treat.

I made it a point to look for crab roe to bring back to the US. I was told it comes jarred or canned, and to my surprise, it wasn't that easy to find. I had to go to high end Rustan's Supermarket in Makati to find jarred ones.  I also found canned ones in Razon's Restaurant in Makati.

Some Pasta with Aligue recipes call for adding cream or mayonnaise; but I think that could just curdle your blood in your veins, right then and there. So, here's a better suggestion.  I still have to try it, but my friends said to saute in olive oil lots of garlic, tomatoes, and shiitake mushrooms. Add crab roe. Squeeze lemon juice. Add pepper. Add basil. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top. I plan to add crab meat to this concoction. Others have added clams or shrimps to their Pasta with Aligue.

This pasta should go well with a green salad, sour dough bread, and white wine.
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That's me at the Daluyon Resort

In the meantime, this is all for now,
Cecilia

Read also:
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Cooking with Cecilia Brainard - Linguine with Clams
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Cooking with Cecilia - Leche Flan (Vietnamese Style)
Cooking with Cecilia - Beef Bourguignon 
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Cooking with Cecilia - Filipino Barbecue Pork

Tags: food, wine, pasta, seafood, crab roe, crab fat, aligue, taba ng talangka