It used to be that the only time you’d see stone crab on restaurant menus it was served up just as it has been for a century: chilled, cracked and with a mayo-mustard sauce.

Nowadays a few adventurous Florida chefs are adding the candy-sweet stone crab meat to dishes. Among them are Luciana Giangrandi and Alex Meyer, the co-head chefs of Boia De in Miami, who add stone crab to a cold pasta dish that’s light and luscious and, even though it’s flavorful, doesn’t overpower the delicate ingredient.

Luckily, Giangrandi and Meyer agreed to share the dish with us. For a shortcut, source store-bought squid ink pasta, and in an off-season pinch, another crab meat will do. But nothing will make this dish more special than the real thing.

TAGLIOLINI AL NERO WITH STONE CRAB

Serves 8

• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 10 egg yolks
• 1 tbsp squid ink
• 1 cup Kewpie mayonnaise
• 4 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp truffle sauce
• 2 ½ tbsp Vin Jaune or manzanilla sherry
• 2 cups cleaned stone crab meat
• 1 cup herb mix of equal parts parsley, tarragon, dill, chervil and chive batons
• ½ cup sliced scallions

Preparation

1. Add flour to stand mixer with paddle attachment. Turn on mixer and gradually incorporate eggs and squid ink in three batches until dough forms.
2. Knead pasta on clean countertop for 8-10 minutes until dough springs back when a finger is pressed into it. If it’s sticky while rolling, dust with flour. If it’s tough and dry, wet hands with water and continue kneading.
3. Let dough rest 30 minutes. Using rolling pin, flatten dough and pass through widest setting on pasta roller. Continue to pass dough through roller as you reduce the size until pasta sheet is 1/16 of inch. Cut 9-inch sheets and run through pasta roller’s tagliolini or spaghetti cutter.
4. Blanch pasta in salted water for 1 ½ minutes and shock in ice water. Toss noodles with olive oil to prevent sticking. 
5. Mix together Kewpie mayonnaise, lemon juice, truffle sauce, and Vin Jaune. 
6. To prepare dish, combine ¾ cup blanched tagliolini, ¼ cup of cleaned stone crab meat, 3-finger pinch of herb mix and 1 teaspoon scallions with enough dressing to coat. Top with drizzle of good olive oil and couple herbs to garnish. 

Courtesy of Chefs Luciana Giangrandi and Alex Meyer