Last night we tucked into a big bowl of crab pasta for dinner. It’s one of our favourite midweek meals, mainly because it takes about as long to cook as it does to type out the recipe.

You put a big pot of salted water on the stove to boil, and while it’s heating up, you finely chop a clove or two of garlic and a red chilli. Once you’ve tipped the pasta into the boiling water and it’s about 3-4 minutes from being done, you fry in a healthy glug of good-quality olive oil until it’s just starting to release some aromatics (don’t let the garlic burn, it’ll turn bitter). Add some brown crab meat (we use a couple of 100 gram tubs) and stir together over a moderate heat. Add a good pinch of salt and the grated zest of a lemon, along with one tub (100g) of white crab meat and the juice (to taste) of the lemon you zested, along with a generous bunch of flat-leafed parsley, finely chopped. Drain the pasta, then stir it into the sauce.

Serve in pre-warmed pasta bowls, along with a generous glass of top-notch Chardonnay. Last night was drank a glass (or maybe two) of The Lane’s Beginning Single-Vineyard Chardonnay 2010. Made from fruit grown in the (relatively) cool Adelaide Hills by the talented father-and-son winemaking team of John and Marty Edwards, this is an object lesson in just how far Aussie Chardonnay has come in recent years. Although lavishly and lusciously oaked, there’s plenty of zingy citrus (lemon peel and pink grapefruit) fruit and bright acidity to keep it on an even keel. There’s a hint of fashionable smoky, struck match reduction to add complexity, and some creamy mid-palate weight and a hint of toasted cashews on the finish.

The lovely balance of freshness and richness is what made this wine such a good  match for last night’s crab pasta, but I think it would also have worked well with tonight’s roast bream and couscous salad. Shame there’s none left.

Rating: (What does this mean? See here for a guide to my rating system.)