Spaghetti with Cauliflower Strascicata
With plentiful supplies of fresh cheap cauliflower around at present, I was reminded of this delicious, umani-flavoured pasta dish which Sydney chef Jared Ingersoll featured in his Danks Street Depot cookbook. Strascicata means “to drag” which is what happens when you add the parmesan to the pan and it begins to stick.
Inroduction
About this Recipe
By: Sheridan Rogers.
I’ve made a few changes to Jared’s original recipe such as adding the anchovies to the olive oil to let them melt and lightly blanching the choppped cauliflower before it’s fried. And I used Panko breadcrumbs instead of sourdough breadcrumbs. Make sure you use a large heavy based frying pan as there’s a lot of stirring and turning of ingredients.
Ingredients
Serves 4
- good quality spaghetti, 400g
- extra virgin olive oil, 100ml
- anchovy fillets, 3, chopped
- garlic, 3 cloves, thinly sliced
- cauliflower, 1/2 head
- large red chillies, 2, chopped (keep seeds in if you like it hot)
- salted capers, 50g, rinsed and chopped
- pitted black olives (such as kalamata), chopped
- flat leaf parsley, 1 bunch, chopped
- toasted sourdough breadcrumbs, 60g
- freshly grated parmesan, 2 cups
- lemon, 1, cut into wedges (optional)
Cook the spaghetti in a large pan of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain well and drizzle with a little little olive oil. Toss well to combine.
Chop the cauliflower into pieces about the size of your thumbnail then blanch in lightly salted water for 1 -2 minutes. Drain and refresh under cold water.
In a large heavy based frying pan, heat the remaining olive oil over medium heat, add the anchovies and stir with a wooden spoon until they have melted. Add the cauliflower and fry until just starting to colour. Add the garlic, chillies, capers and olives and fry for 2 -3 minutes or until garlic is translucent.
Add the cooked spaghetti and half the parsley. Toss over medium heat and when the spaghetti is hot, add the toasted breadcrumbs and parmesan. Use a wooden spoon to scrape the bottom of the pan.
When the parmesan starts to stick to the pan, remove from the heat, sprinkle with remaining parsley and serve immediately with wedges of lemon.