It happened one more time: I am so in love with cauliflower, that – once again – I had amassed quite a bit of cruciferous vegetable scraps (stems, cores, and leaves of broccoli, cauliflower and Savoy cabbage). Plus, a colleague gave me a couple of kilos of sedani, a kind of pasta I rarely use, which I thought might be good to make pasta al forno (baked pasta). And so, the brassicaceae pasta bake was born!
Brassicaceae pasta bake (serves 4):
400 gr. scraps from cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage
350 gr. sedani pasta shape
50 ml. cooking cream
1 slice stale bread, crumbled
4 Tbsp flaked almonds
2 Tbsp golden raisins, soaked in water for 15 minutes
nutmeg, to taste
salt, to taste
In a large pot full of salted water, boil the vegetable scraps until tender, drain with a slotted spoon and set aside. Reserve a couple of ladles of cooking water for later, bring the remaining water to a boil again and use it to cook the pasta. Drain the pasta and set aside.
Preheat oven to 180°C. In a food processor, mix the vegetable scraps with the cooking cream and 5 Tbsp cooking water. Put the mixture in a large bowl and add the pasta and raisins (drained), plus half of the almonds, nutmeg and salt to taste. Mix well, and transfer to an oven-proof skillet. Top with the crumbled bread and the rest of the almonds, and bake for 25 – 30 minutes, plus 3 minutes under the grill.
Buon Appetito!
the soul kitchenette 