Puttanesca with Cauliflower
I found this recipe a little over a year ago, and I have made it over and over because it is marvelously fast and full of enormous flavors. It's vegetarian, and though I am not a vegetarian, I am craving something heavy on the veg this week.
One thing for me to get off my chest: this is not a nonsense "cauliflower is a substitute for everything tasty" recipe. This is a "cauliflower is a delicious vegetable and doesn't get used enough so here's a yummy cauliflower recipe" recipe. There is pasta in this dish. Nobody's substituting nothin' for nothin'.
Every time I make this, I am surprised all over again by how few ingredients are called for. On top of that, it is deeply forgiving in terms of time-management. It keeps well in the fridge and reheats beautifully. It brings freshness to the palate but doesn't call for a ton of prep. It is exactly what I need right now because I don't have a lot of time or patience, but I want and need to be eating as well as possible.
Planning!
I do a couple of regularly scheduled modifications when I make this dish....
I use smaller pasta than the called-for penne so that the pasta and the cauliflower are all the same size. This week, I used pipettes - I sincerely think this is what makes it super fun to eat!
I also mess with the proportions a bit: 8oz of pasta only, double all of the ingredients for the sauce. But I keep the same amount of olive oil as called for in the original recipe. Easy, peasy, tons of feed-sy. (Sorry.)
Here's the nutritional breakdown from Fitbit...
Groceries I had on hand...
- olive oil
- salt
- pepper
- garlic
- capers
- crushed red pepper
- fresh parsley
Groceries I had to buy...
- pipettes ($1.79)
- cauliflower ($3.99)
- canned whole tomatoes (2 @ $1 each = $2.00)
- kalamata olives (.39lb @ $8.99/lb = $3.51)
Total monies spent for the entire recipe: $11.29
Total monies spent for each of these 4 meals....
$2.82 per meal
Cooking!
I was super duper toast by the time I got to making this, and could not have been more thankful that I saved it for last because it takes such minimal work and doesn't have any particular level of urgency.
I made the pasta, drained it, and portioned it into tupperware. Then I chopped the cauliflower and started the pan-fry/saute while I prepped the olives (chop, chop and into the bowl), tomatoes (hand rip from the can into the bowl with the olives, then pour the liquid in after it), and capers (drain, rinse and dump into the bowl with the olives and tomatoes). When the cauliflower had a nice color (do not rush this; it's worth waiting for, and the dish will not be the same without it!), in went the seasoning and garlic, followed by the tomatoes, olives, and capers. I stirred it all together, then turned the heat up to medium-high and went to sit on the couch. A short while later, I became aware of the sound of it simmering, so I got up and turned the heat off. I tested a piece of cauliflower... it was perfect, the dish was done.
As usual, I packed parsley leaves separately to garnish with after re-heating at work. I've had this a couple of times so far this week, and I love it enormously (as usual). When I eat this, I really do feel like I'm taking care of myself by gifting myself something incredibly tasty, hearty, healthy, and unique. Even if I do eat it all the time.
