This dish has been a near permanent fixture on my menus for the past five years. I had the idea after a trip to California where I was inspired by a lot of interesting flavour combinations, and thought that the brown crab meat I had been using in a more traditional pasta dish might be interesting if I mixed it with the classic cheese and pepper.

Serves 4
dried pasta 400g, a short pasta such as rigatoni, or spaghetti
fresh black pepper 20 cracks (about 5g)
butter 50g
brown crab meat 100g (at the restaurant we blitz the crab meat into a smooth paste to make the sauce velvety. If you can’t blitz it, it won’t be an issue, it will just be a slightly coarser texture)
grana padano 80g, grated
lemon 1

Put a large pot of water on to boil, then add enough salt so it tastes like a highly seasoned soup. Cook the pasta for about a minute less than the packet instructions.

While the pasta is cooking, toast the freshly ground pepper in a large pan over a medium heat. When you can start to smell the aromatics of the pepper, add the butter and a generous splash of pasta water (about 100ml) and let it all boil into an emulsion.

Add the crab meat and mix until it is homogenised. Remove from the heat until the pasta is nearly done. When the pasta is ready, strain and add to the sauce.

Put on a medium-high heat until the sauce begins to boil, then take it off the heat.

Add the grated cheese, tossing until evenly distributed. Season with lemon and salt until it tastes good to you. Distribute among four plates and finish with a crack of fresh black pepper on each.

Chris Leach is chef and co-founder of Manteca, London EC2