It dawned on me that our set cauliflower custard had roughly the same viscosity as ricotta cheese. I wondered if we could use the carrageenan based custard in place of ricotta in a cavatelli pasta dough? I took 200 grams of the custard and 200 grams of 00 flour and kneaded them together. The dough came together. It was a touch wet so added a sprinkling more flour on the counter as I kneaded the dough to completion. I vacuum sealed the dough and refrigerated it for an hour.
During my time away from the dough I thought about adding some pressure toasted yeast to the mixture. I felt it would accentuate the cauliflower and increase the savoriness of the pasta. I cut open the vacuum bag and sprinkled some of our roasted yeast on the dough. I kneaded the yeast into the dough and then I started rolling it into cavatelli. It worked beautifully.
Then came the moment of truth. How would the dough cook? The cavatelli were tender and rich. We coated them with a quick glaze of pasta water and salted butter. We topped the cavatelli with our cauliflower crumbs and micro basil from Fresh Origins. It's looks like simple, elegant dish, and when you taste it, the cauliflower impact is enormous.
Years Past
April 19, 2006
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