Rachel Roddy's Recipe for Cauliflower, Onion, and Anchovy Pasta | A kitchen in Rome
Driving on the outskirts of Gela in Sicily last summer, we passed a truck, its open rear full of pea-green, electric purple and white cauliflower. These trucks are a familiar but still gripping sight in Italy. Especially this one, with its particularly high wall of tricolor heads, some of which had toppled over and rolled onto the road, where they met a disorderly end. We stopped for gas and lemonade at a garage across the road. I think I tried to take a picture, but it was someone else in the car who summed up the scene: "Joker truck", they said. I don't didn't immediately understand what they meant, but when I did, all of the previous descriptions - cumulus, cream-colored curd - disappeared, and all I could see were green shirts , purple suits and white faces: a stack of Batman Jokers.
Months later, and it's still the first thing that comes to mind when I take a cauliflower. Even a freshly cut vegetable with clotted cream and carved leaves from my friend Carla Tomasi's garden is a vegetable of great beauty, with something of Jack Nicholson.
The Sicilian and, more precisely. the Palermo name for this dish is vruócculi arriminati. Vruócculi is the dialect of broccoli, but in Palermo and also in Gela, cavolfiore < /em> (cauliflower) is often called broccoli. And what about arriminati? I recently came across a list of hard-to-translate Sicilian words, and arriminati is noted as being closest to rimescolati, which means mixed again or reworked, and is used to describe both playing cards and batters. It's a weird translation, I know, "remixed cauliflower pasta", but useful, I think, especially if your idea of mixing is grandma's mix: i.e. throwing them all away and mix them wildly. Because, like the smash before the cucumber or the whip before the cream, it highlights the importance of action. The first mixture of boiled cauliflower with oil, onion, anchovy; the second mixture, of what is now almost a cream, with the pasta.
It is optional, but encouraged, to top the cauliflower, onions and anchovies mixed with toasted breadcrumbs. The best way to toast them - whether dry or softer fine crumbs - is in a skillet with two tablespoons of olive oil and a good pinch of salt over medium-low heat. . Use a wooden spoon to move them around the pan until they are lightly colored and smell like digestive cookies. Even with crumbs, this dish isn't supposed to be pretty, but freeing the pasta and the actors of that pressure is a good thing.
Pasta with cauliflower, onion and anchoviesPreparation 5 minCooking 20 minServes 4
1 large cauliflower6 tbsp olive oil1 peeled and sliced onion Salt4-6 anchovy fillets30g currants ( optional)30g slivered almonds or pine nuts (optional)5 saffron strands 400g short pasta – bucatini, casarecce, mezze maniche, fusilli 50g breadcrumbs
Cut and Break the cauliflower into large florets. Cook them in well-salted boiling water until just tender - only just, as they will cook further with the other ingredients. Remove from the water and set aside, saving the water for the pasta.
In a large skillet over medium-low heat, heat four tablespoons of olive oil. olive and onion and salt, stirring until onion is tender. Add the anchovies, currants and almonds or pine nuts (if using) and cook for an additional minute.
Add the cauliflower, stir, then add two ladles of cauliflower cooking water and simmer for five minutes. Dissolve the saffron in a little cauliflower water and add it at the last moment, stirring so that the mixture becomes soft and looks like a sauce.
Return the cauliflower water to a boil, add the pasta and cook until al dente.
Meanwhile, in another pan, grill the breadcrumbs in the remaining two tablespoons of olive oil with a pinch of salt, until golden and smell like digestive cookies. Return the cauliflower mixture to the heat to warm through, adding a little of the pasta cooking water if it seems dry.
When the pasta is al dente , drain or lift them directly into the cauliflower pot, and toss and stir so that the ingredients come together. Divide among plates and top with toasted breadcrumbs.
Driving on the outskirts of Gela in Sicily last summer, we passed a truck, its open rear full of pea-green, electric purple and white cauliflower. These trucks are a familiar but still gripping sight in Italy. Especially this one, with its particularly high wall of tricolor heads, some of which had toppled over and rolled onto the road, where they met a disorderly end. We stopped for gas and lemonade at a garage across the road. I think I tried to take a picture, but it was someone else in the car who summed up the scene: "Joker truck", they said. I don't didn't immediately understand what they meant, but when I did, all of the previous descriptions - cumulus, cream-colored curd - disappeared, and all I could see were green shirts , purple suits and white faces: a stack of Batman Jokers.
Months later, and it's still the first thing that comes to mind when I take a cauliflower. Even a freshly cut vegetable with clotted cream and carved leaves from my friend Carla Tomasi's garden is a vegetable of great beauty, with something of Jack Nicholson.
The Sicilian and, more precisely. the Palermo name for this dish is vruócculi arriminati. Vruócculi is the dialect of broccoli, but in Palermo and also in Gela, cavolfiore < /em> (cauliflower) is often called broccoli. And what about arriminati? I recently came across a list of hard-to-translate Sicilian words, and arriminati is noted as being closest to rimescolati, which means mixed again or reworked, and is used to describe both playing cards and batters. It's a weird translation, I know, "remixed cauliflower pasta", but useful, I think, especially if your idea of mixing is grandma's mix: i.e. throwing them all away and mix them wildly. Because, like the smash before the cucumber or the whip before the cream, it highlights the importance of action. The first mixture of boiled cauliflower with oil, onion, anchovy; the second mixture, of what is now almost a cream, with the pasta.
It is optional, but encouraged, to top the cauliflower, onions and anchovies mixed with toasted breadcrumbs. The best way to toast them - whether dry or softer fine crumbs - is in a skillet with two tablespoons of olive oil and a good pinch of salt over medium-low heat. . Use a wooden spoon to move them around the pan until they are lightly colored and smell like digestive cookies. Even with crumbs, this dish isn't supposed to be pretty, but freeing the pasta and the actors of that pressure is a good thing.
Pasta with cauliflower, onion and anchoviesPreparation 5 minCooking 20 minServes 4
1 large cauliflower6 tbsp olive oil1 peeled and sliced onion Salt4-6 anchovy fillets30g currants ( optional)30g slivered almonds or pine nuts (optional)5 saffron strands 400g short pasta – bucatini, casarecce, mezze maniche, fusilli 50g breadcrumbs
Cut and Break the cauliflower into large florets. Cook them in well-salted boiling water until just tender - only just, as they will cook further with the other ingredients. Remove from the water and set aside, saving the water for the pasta.
In a large skillet over medium-low heat, heat four tablespoons of olive oil. olive and onion and salt, stirring until onion is tender. Add the anchovies, currants and almonds or pine nuts (if using) and cook for an additional minute.
Add the cauliflower, stir, then add two ladles of cauliflower cooking water and simmer for five minutes. Dissolve the saffron in a little cauliflower water and add it at the last moment, stirring so that the mixture becomes soft and looks like a sauce.
Return the cauliflower water to a boil, add the pasta and cook until al dente.
Meanwhile, in another pan, grill the breadcrumbs in the remaining two tablespoons of olive oil with a pinch of salt, until golden and smell like digestive cookies. Return the cauliflower mixture to the heat to warm through, adding a little of the pasta cooking water if it seems dry.
When the pasta is al dente , drain or lift them directly into the cauliflower pot, and toss and stir so that the ingredients come together. Divide among plates and top with toasted breadcrumbs.
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