It all started with a flip through the November issue of Food & WIne. There was a recipe for Bucatini with Cauliflower and Brussels Sprouts. The picture looked good. Figured it was worth test driving for our Saturday night meal.
The dish, contributed by Marc Vetri, includes onion, garlic, anchovies and herbs that are part of the mix for sautéing the cauliflower and brussels sprouts. What puts it over the top, is the Bucatini — which is is a thick spaghetti-like pasta with a hole running through the center.
The name comes from Italian: buco, meaning “hole”, while bucato means “pierced.”
A trip to the farmer’s market was all that was really needed to get things going.
Then it was mise en place time. Pronounced MEEZ ahn plahs, it means is to have all your ingredients prepared and ready to go before you start cooking.
So for this recipe, little glass bowls were filled with the various ingredients:
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 4 plump oil-packed anchovies, minced**
- 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
- 1//2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Also set aside were crushed red pepper flakes, chopped rosemary and chopped thyme.
After cooking (until al dente) and draining the bucatini, the real fun begins. The cauliflower (cut in 1-inch pieces) and brussels sprouts (halved) are sautéed in 1/4 cup of the light oil (canola for example). When lightly charred and crisp-tender, add some more oil along with the onion, garlic, anchovies, crushed red pepper, rosemary and thyme; cook, stirring, until the onion is slightly softened (it takes 3-5 minutes). Another step is browning the bread crumbs and setting aside.
Then you assemble by adding the cooked bucatini to the sauteed veggie mixture and tossing. The last step is to stir in the grated cheese, after removing the pan from the heat and then serving.
Yummy for what we refer to as “Step 3 — Enjoy!“Â Adding some crusty bread on the side puts this dish over the top.
Check out this month’s Food & Wine magazine which has many interesting recipes.
And if you are wondering, “What’s for Desert?” — check out this homemade frozen yogurt recipe which features “Orange- Chocolate-Cinnamon†flavors. Learned about it too late for Saturday’s meal. Maybe next time.
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