Capellini con il Cavolfiore e Limone
(Angel Hair with Cauliflower and Lemon)
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| Capellini con il Cavolfiore e Limone |
The nice thing about making this dish is that it is simple and all the ingredients can be made ahead of time. Aside from the preparation time for the preserved lemons (2-3 weeks in a container in the fridge - see my post from September 13th), the chopping of the parsley, the roasting of the cauliflower and the grating of the cheese, all you need to do is boil water. Nevertheless, this dish can be made with ready ingredients in less than 15 minutes.
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| My 4 pound cauliflower |
You will need to do a couple of things to prepare for this dish:
1) roast the cauliflower; and
2) make preserved lemons.
I don't recommend hand made pasta with this dish because the cauliflower is coarse and heavy in weight and requires a sturdier, rather than delicate, dried pasta (linguini, capellini or even a macaroni like gemelli or rigatoni rigati or strozzapreti).
To begin, remove the leaves from the cauliflower; in the case of my gargantuan vegetable, pealing away also required cutting through some of the root to separate the florets from the thick center stem. I often roast the stem as well, but it is entirely optional. One might think that a whole cauliflower weighing roughly 5-6 pounds is an awful lot of cauliflower for one pasta dish, but roasting does indeed create quite a bit of shrinkage. I marinate the cauliflower florets in a mixture of olive oil, anchovies, garlic and pepper (something akin to a bagna cauda without the capers or the butter but not cooked either). That said:
Roasted Cauliflower
To begin, remove the leaves from the cauliflower; in the case of my gargantuan vegetable, pealing away also required cutting through some of the root to separate the florets from the thick center stem. I often roast the stem as well, but it is entirely optional. One might think that a whole cauliflower weighing roughly 5-6 pounds is an awful lot of cauliflower for one pasta dish, but roasting does indeed create quite a bit of shrinkage. I marinate the cauliflower florets in a mixture of olive oil, anchovies, garlic and pepper (something akin to a bagna cauda without the capers or the butter but not cooked either). That said:
Roasted Cauliflower
Preheat oven to 450º F. If you have a convection oven, with a convection roast setting, set that at 475º F.
1/2-3/4 cup EVOO
1 small container anchovies with the oil (mashed)
4 cloves mashed garlic or garlic pushed trough a garlic press
black pepper corns (12-15 turns of the pepper mill)
One large cauliflower trimmed of all leaves, each flower torn and broken into smaller florets, stem cut up (optional)
Mash the entire contents of one can anchovies in oil and add garlic, pepper and olive oil. Place all ingredients in a large non-reactive stainless steel bowl and toss to thoroughly coat each piece of the cauliflower.
Arrange the cauliflower on a lightly greased roasting sheet pan and roast cauliflower for 30-45 minutes. You should monitor the progress of the vegetables after 20 minutes to make sure nothing is burning. Every oven is different so it is important to gauge the proper roasting time. I turn the pan after 20 minutes to ensure proper browning. Once cauliflower is cooked, remove from oven, let cool. At this point you may either proceed with the recipe or store the cauliflower until you are ready to use it.
Once you are ready to assemble the final dish, you may want to make sure you have a mis en place, ready to go once the pasta is drained and ready for serving.
1 large head roasted cauliflower, cut into smaller florets
4 tablespoons chopped preserved lemons
4 tablespoons preserved lemon liquid
4 tablespoons EVOO
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/2 pound capellini (or pasta of your choise
Kosher salt
1/4 cup water from pasta pot
Reggiano Parmiggiano
Mash the entire contents of one can anchovies in oil and add garlic, pepper and olive oil. Place all ingredients in a large non-reactive stainless steel bowl and toss to thoroughly coat each piece of the cauliflower.
Arrange the cauliflower on a lightly greased roasting sheet pan and roast cauliflower for 30-45 minutes. You should monitor the progress of the vegetables after 20 minutes to make sure nothing is burning. Every oven is different so it is important to gauge the proper roasting time. I turn the pan after 20 minutes to ensure proper browning. Once cauliflower is cooked, remove from oven, let cool. At this point you may either proceed with the recipe or store the cauliflower until you are ready to use it.
Once you are ready to assemble the final dish, you may want to make sure you have a mis en place, ready to go once the pasta is drained and ready for serving.
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| Roasted Cauliflower |
4 tablespoons chopped preserved lemons
4 tablespoons preserved lemon liquid
4 tablespoons EVOO
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/2 pound capellini (or pasta of your choise
Kosher salt
1/4 cup water from pasta pot
Reggiano Parmiggiano
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| Preserved Lemons |
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| Chopped Parsley |
Assemble the prepared ingredients in bowls. Cook the pasta in a large pot of water. Add a handful of Kosher salt to the water when it comes to the boil. Let it return to the boil and add the pasta and cook according to the directions on the box. For Capellini, cooking at a rolling boil shouldn't take any longer than 5 minutes. Just before draining the pasta, measure out a large ladleful of pasta water and add it to the bowl of lemons and olive oil. Drain pasta, put pasta in a large bowl, pour the lemon mixture, the cauliflower and some of the parsley over the pasta and toss to coat the noodles. Arrange on plates (I prefer bowls) and serve immediately. Serves 4 as a first course or two as an entree. |
| Capellini con il Cavelfiore e Limone |
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