Recipes below: Fusilloni with Cauliflower, Saffron, Raisins, and Pine Nuts; Mezzi Rigatoni with Cannellini Beans, Pancetta, Fennel Pollen, and Rosemary
There are two pasta dishes I never fail to make when the weather grows cold, both of them solidly baked into my Southern Italian head. They are pasta with cauliflower and pasta e fagiole. Their familiar aromas make me happy much of the time, and when they don’t, they at least set me on solid ground, something life rarely does. I don’t have a lot of warm Nonna memories, the stuff many Italian Americans go on about (my grandmother was a vacant depressive who scared all her grandkids), but I do have a feel for improvisation rooted in tradition.
Neither of the dishes I’m talking about here is a set recipe. They’re instead culinary themes that get turned over and over again. It surprises me that after all these years I’m not bored with these themes. I think that’s because the impulse to keep strengthening what’s already inside me is weirdly powerful. Another thing is, I never make them exactly the same way twice. I like playing around.
So here I’ve got cauliflower and beans. Beige is not my favorite color, but you work with what you’ve got and coax it into some sort of beauty. This time around I added saffron to the cauliflower, giving it a nice bitter floral edge and a peachy color. I added fennel pollen to the pasta fazool because I really like the way it blends with rosemary. I don’t always add rosemary, but this time I did. My mother often used sage. I do that. She also, more often than not, added tomato. I didn’t do that this time, but I do sometimes. Another trick I picked up from my family, which I also didn’t do this time but is a good thing to think about, is to simmer a couple of pork chops in the sauce and then pull them out and serve them on the side with a green salad. They flavor the dish nicely.
A note on the raisins I used here: I’ve grown a little sick of supermarket raisins, finding them dry and boring, so I finally splurged on the zibibbo grape raisins I’ve been eyeing at gustiamo.com for quite some time. Boy, were they different, big, soft, dark, and crunchy with seeds, which added an unexpected dimension to my cauliflower pasta. They also have some of the complexity of a sweet wine, being both sweet and musky-tart, which is exactly what they are mostly grown for. They come from the island of Pantelleria and are used to make its famous passito, a sweet dessert wine that I first tasted years ago and never forgot. Some of the grapes are left to dry and turned into these amazing raisins. These particular ones are packaged by La Nicchia and sold by Gustiamo. They took this cauliflower pasta to a new level.
Fusilloni with Cauliflower, Saffron, Raisins, and Pine Nuts
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 large cauliflower, cut into small florets
Salt
1 pound fusilloni or another short twisty pasta
1 medium-size sweet onion, cut into small dice
4 oil-packed anchovies, minced
A few large thyme sprigs, the leaves chopped
Aleppo pepper to taste
A large pinch of saffron threads, lightly dried, ground, and then soaked in about ½ cup of hot water
A palmful of raisins, soaked in ½ cup of dry Marsala
A palmful of pine nuts, lightly toasted
A few large sprigs of flat-leaf parsley, the leaves lightly chopped
1½ cups dry breadcrumbs sautéed with a little olive oil, salt, and a big pinch of sugar
Get out a large sauté pan, and set it over medium-high heat. Drizzle in about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the cauliflower and a little salt. Sauté until the florets are browned in areas, about 7 minutes.
While the cauliflower is cooking, set up a pot of pasta cooking water, and bring it to a boil. Add salt. Drop in the fusilloni.
Add the onion to the sauté pan, and let it soften for a few minutes. Add the anchovies, the thyme, and some Aleppo, and sauté for another minute or so to release their flavors. Add the saffron water and the raisins with their Marsala soaking liquid. Let simmer for a few minutes. By this time the cauliflower should be tender but not falling apart.
When the pasta is al dente, drain it, setting aside about a cup of its cooking water, and put the pasta in a large, wide serving bowl. Drizzle on about a tablespoon of olive oil, and give it a brief toss. Add the cauliflower sauce, the pine nuts, and the parsley, and toss again, adding pasta cooking water to loosen everything.
Top each serving with the sweet breadcrumbs.
Mezzi Rigatoni with Cannellini Beans, Pancetta, Fennel Pollen, and Rosemary
Salt
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 ½-inch-thick round of pancetta, cut into small dice
1 large leek, just the white and tender green parts, cut into small dice
2 inner celery stalks, cut into small dice, plus the leaves from the whole bunch, lightly chopped (about ¾ cup of leaves)
1 pound mezzi rigatoni or penne
1 garlic clove, sliced
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon fennel pollen
3 long sprigs rosemary, the leaves chopped
A big splash of dry vermouth
3 cups cooked cannellini beans, with some of their cooking liquid
½ cup chicken broth
Black pepper to taste
A chunk of pecorino Sardo cheese for grating
Set up a pot of pasta cooking water, and bring it to a boil. Add salt.
While the water is coming to a boil, set a large sauté pan over medium heat, add a big drizzle of olive oil and the pancetta, and sauté until the pancetta is crisp. Add the leek, the celery, about half of the celery leaves, and a little salt.
Drop the pasta into the water.
Add the garlic, the nutmeg, the fennel pollen, and the rosemary to the sauté pan, and cook for a minute or so to release their flavors. Add the vermouth, and let it bubble out for a bit. Add the cannellini beans along with a little of their cooking liquid and the chicken broth, and simmer for about 5 minutes. Taste for salt, and add some black pepper. The sauce should be a little brothy.
When the pasta is al dente, drain it, and put it in a large, wide serving bowl. Add the sauce from the sauté pan and the rest of the celery leaves, and give it a toss, adding a drizzle more olive oil.
Grate some pecorino Sardo over each serving.
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