↓
 

Cauliflower Sauce with Garlic, Oil and Chili Pepper

Pomodori e Vino Posted on by

Today’s pasta sauce was made with an ingredient you might not ordinarily think of as sauce material, Cauliflower. I was a little surprised when I read it. I enjoy the vegetable so I was ready to see what this sauce had to offer.
The cauliflower is boiled until tender and drained. Olive oil and garlic are cooked until golden brown. Next, chopped anchovy fillets are stirred into the oil and mashed to make a paste. This step took a little bit of work. Not a complaint but worth noting. The cauliflower was added coating and breaking up the pieces as you stir. Penne pasta is tossed with the sauce and chopped parsley.
This pasta dish has a very subtle flavor. The pasta is the first taste. Then the tastes of garlic, cauliflower, and parsley unfold. I was a little to conservative with the chili pepper. I know this is an Italian dish, but the undertones taste more Asian to me.
While not a favorite for me at this time, I would consider making it again. After turning up the heat a bit I could see it served with a white fleshed fish or grilled shrimp.
6710IE1.jpg

Comments

Cauliflower Sauce with Garlic, Oil and Chili Pepper — 5 Comments

  2. I never would have thought cauliflower and pasta together, amazing!
    Thank you for posting such great photos!

  3. Irene, did you know that Italian cooking has much in common with Asian cooking, and Chinese in particular, than with other European cuisines? When I had my cooking school, which was attended by students from around the world, I found that Japanese students for example picked up the idiomatic flavors of Italian cooking than those whose background was classic French cooking.
    At home, where I use small red chilies that I chop very fine, I would use an eighth of a teaspoon of it for that sauce.
    I agree that mashing the anchovy into the sauce takes a little doing, but if I were writing that recipe today – and others that anchovies go into – I’d instruct the reader to mash the anchovy into a paste with the flat of a knife blade BEFORE putting it into the pan.
    Thank you for not giving up. Marcella

↑