Do you ever wonder what your favorite chefs cook at home, when they’re in their own kitchens, away from the chaos of the restaurant? Do dishes from their menus ever end up on their dining room tables?

Well, this recipe is an answer. It comes from Stephanie Dietz, who runs the Pink Dinghy in Virginia Beach, a delightful restaurant that has the kind of menu that makes me want to order one of everything. When I asked Stephanie whether she had a great weeknight recipe to share, she replied: “I’m thinking of this crab pasta that we make at the restaurant, and made at home the other night. It’s so luxurious but also super easy and feels like a decadent treat for a weeknight.”

I could not describe it better myself.

I got on Zoom with Stephanie and her husband, Jon, so they could show me how they make it. First, they mixed softened butter with tomato paste, Calabrian chile paste and lemon zest to make a beautiful compound butter. Then, while they boiled bucatini in a big pot, they sauteed shallots, cherry tomatoes and garlic in olive oil, added lots of the fragrant butter, and finished the sauce with white wine and plenty of the starchy pasta cooking water. At the very end, they folded in a generous amount of fresh jumbo lump crab.

This is just how they make it in the restaurant, which makes a lot of sense when you’re a chef preparing each bowl of pasta to order. At home, you can skip making the separate compound butter and just add all its ingredients to the skillet. (We home cooks don’t have to worry about making sure multiple bowls taste consistent throughout the night. Plus, why wash a mixer if we don’t have to?)

If you do want to make the compound butter, you can double or triple those ingredients to make a big batch, form it into a log, wrap it in plastic and store it in the freezer. (Using a stand or hand mixer, beat the softened butter with the tomato paste, Calabrian chile paste and lemon zest.) Cut off discs to slather on roast chicken right when it comes out of the oven, melt some in a skillet and throw grilled shrimp in it, or toast bread and spread it thickly with the butter and use that to make a delicious sandwich with mortadella. If Calabrian chile paste is a new ingredient in your kitchen, try using it anywhere you’d use sambal or hot sauce (and mix with mayo for a great sandwich spread).

I digress. Back to the pasta. The silky, buttery sauce makes the bucatini just as decadent as the fresh crab. Which is to say, you can leave the crab out and still have a beautiful, rich pasta that happens to be vegetarian. If you’re looking for seafood but want a lower price tag, you can substitute high-quality canned crab, fresh shrimp (rock shrimp work well here; stir them in right as the pasta meets the sauce so they cook in the few minutes it takes for the pasta to absorb the sauce) or serve with steamed mussels. Or go big and combine crab, shrimp and mussels for an extra-special mixed seafood pasta.

When I asked Stephanie whether any particular moment or place inspired this recipe, she knew the answer right away: It was the crab spaghetti once on the menu at Edo’s Squid in Richmond, what she describes as a “no-frills, perfect Italian restaurant.”

I love thinking of one chef sitting in another’s restaurant, loving the food so much that she brings it home to her restaurant and now, through the generosity of sharing it here, brings it into our kitchens. I’ll be making this tonight – and I hope you’ll join me.

Bucatini With Tomato Butter and Crab

6 servings (makes about 9 cups)

This decadent weeknight pasta recipe is adapted from Stephanie Dietz, who runs the Pink Dinghy in Virginia Beach, Virginia. If Calabrian chile paste is a new ingredient in your kitchen, try using it anywhere you’d use sambal or hot sauce (mix with mayo for a great sandwich spread). While fresh crabmeat is the best thing you can use here, it’s a pricey ingredient, and in its place, you can sub in high-quality canned crab; or to make this dish vegetarian, simply leave out the crab.

Storage: Refrigerate for up to 2 days.

Where to buy: Fresh jumbo lump crab can be found at well-stocked supermarkets and seafood shops. Calabrian chile paste can be found at Italian markets, specialty stores, well-stocked supermarkets and online.

1/2 teaspoon fine salt, plus more as needed

1 pound bucatini or other long pasta

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 large shallots (4 1/2 ounces total), minced

1 pint cherry tomatoes (10 ounces), halved

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed

6 garlic cloves, minced or finely grated

1/2 cup dry white wine, such as pinot grigio

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

2 teaspoons Calabrian chile paste (see Where to buy)

2 tablespoons tomato paste

8 ounces fresh jumbo lump crabmeat (see Where to buy and Substitutions)

Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, for serving

Grated parmesan cheese, for serving

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the bucatini and cook for 3 minutes less than the package directions instruct. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the pasta cooking water (reserve an extra 1/2 cup if not using wine), then drain the pasta.

While the water comes to a boil and the pasta cooks, in a large (12-inch) skillet over medium heat, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the shallots and cook, stirring, until they start to soften, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, increase the heat to high, and season with the salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes begin to burst and get a little saucy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, just until everything is very saucy and cohesive, about 1 minute more. Stir in the wine, butter, lemon zest, chile paste and tomato paste. Decrease the heat to low and simmer while you cook the pasta.

Once the pasta is cooked, stir the reserved pasta water into the sauce. Add the pasta to the skillet, increase the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring, until the pasta is cooked through and absorbs a lot of the sauce, about 3 minutes. Taste, and season with more salt and/or pepper, if needed. Just before serving, gently fold in the crabmeat, doing your best not to break up the lumps.

Divide among bowls, garnish with parsley and parmesan, and serve right away.

Variations: For a mixed seafood pasta, use crab, plus sautéed shrimp (rock shrimp work well here) and steamed mussels.

Nutrition per serving (1 1/2 cups pasta): 466 calories, 65g carbohydrates, 41mg cholesterol, 15g fat, 4g fiber, 18g protein, 6g saturated fat, 416mg sodium, 5g sugar

From Stephanie Dietz, adapted by cookbook author Julia Turshen.

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