Recipes & Food Styling

Summer Pasta Salad with Jumbo Lump Crab Meat

I love summer pasta salads because there is no limit to the array of fresh seasonal produce that you can showcase!

My mom’s summer pasta salads had a few “requirements”: frozen peas, boiled eggs, celery, Miracle Whip and – always, always – buttered toast on the side!

I learned about the wonderful combination of sweet corn and luscious crab meat from two-time James Beard Award-winning Chef Sarah Stegner of Prairie Grass Cafe. For a Chicago Tribune food story in 2017, Sarah made us her sumptuous seasonal  omelet made with peeky toe crab and fresh sweet corn. Sarah’s crab and corn omelet was so delicious and colorful, and I will never be able to eat crab without corn again!   

I made this Pasta Salad with Lump Crab just like mom’s and with lots of fresh sweet corn off the cob, asparagus tips, diced red bell peppers, thinly sliced shallots and loads of fresh lemon thyme, lemon basil and dill. Raisin bread for the toast! So flavorful and a great way to get nutrients!

Summer Pasta Salad with Lump Crab Meat

1 1/2 pounds lump crab meat

5 lemons- set 1 aside to use as a garnish

2 tablespoons pink Himalayan sea salt

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

1 box of pasta

5 ears of fresh corn on the cob

1 small bag of frozen peas

4 eggs, boiled

1 cup celery, finely sliced

2 shallots, finely sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1/2 large jar of Miracle Whip

1 tablespoon sugar

Bread and butter for toast – always, always – buttered toast on the side!

Several hours ahead, place crab meat in bowl with juice of 4 fresh lemons. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, seal tightly and set in refrigerator.  

In a large kettle or Dutch oven on the stovetop, boil pasta. Drain pasta and let it cool until atleast room temperature or colder.

Using the largest mixing bowl that you have, stand an ear of corn upright and shave corn from the cob with a knife into the bowl. 

In a large, shallow bowl blend all ingredients together well. When pasta is cool enough, mix into other ingredients. Cover and leave in refrigerator overnight for flavors to come together.

Serve with buttered toast, sliced diagonally.