Whole Grain Linguini with Cauliflower and Kalamata Olives

I say restaurants across America should start adding “breakfast pasta” to their menus! When you think about it, we love our carbs for breakfast, don’t we? Toast, cereal, potatoes (hello?), croissants, etc. So why not pasta? The reason I got thinking about this, is that I woke up hungry this morning – maybe because I ran 6 miles yesterday in preparation for next week’s Wharf-to-Wharf race in Santa Cruz, CA. What ever the case was, I felt like eating something carby and healthy. I always prefer savory over sweet, so after thinking of fresh ingredients I have in the house, I thought of one of my favorite pairings of all time: cauliflower and pasta! Perfect! So at about 7:30 a.m., I jumped out of bed, and within about 30 minutes, I had this little dish that I want to share with you. Of course, you will most likely want to enjoy it for lunch or dinner, but if you’re ever feeling a little off one day, and in a carby kind of mood for breakfast – you might want to try this when the rest of the folks are eating their boring eggs or yogurt and cereal!! ; )

Garlic Girl’s Whole Grain Linguini with Cauliflower and Kalamata Olives

Ingredients
1 1lb Whole Grain Linguini (or spaghetti)
1 small head of cauliflower
about 15 Kalamata Olives, chopped
5 cloves fresh garlic, smashed and chopped
1 tbls green garlic, chopped (optional)
pinch or two of crushed red pepper
2 tsp anchovy paste
about 1/2 – 1 c fresh bread crumbs – see my recipe here:
freshly ground pepper to taste
a little salt to taste (hint: the cheese and the olives are salty so be careful to not over salt)
3 or more tbls freshly grated Pecorino Romano Cheese
1 cup reserved liquid after cooking pasta
1-2 tbls chopped fresh parsley

Instructions
– Prepare bread crumbs before you put the water on. The instructions are below.
– Put large pot of water on high heat, for pasta. While that’s heating up, do the following:
– Rinse and chop cauliflower, pieces should be about the size of peanut M&Ms.
– Chop both kinds of garlic and olives and parsley
– Heat a few tbls olive oil in large saucepan.
– Add the green green garlic and the crushed red pepper first and saute for a few minutes.
– Add the fresh garlic, saute for about 30 seconds and then add the anchovy paste, and then the cauliflower.
– You can also throw in the olives and parsley now.
– When water for pasta starts to boil, add to the water a little kosher salt and a couple tsp olive oil
– Add pasta and give it a stir or two and let come to a boil again – then turn it down just a bit, but it should still be at a boil until the pasta is ready.
– Back to the saute: cook for about five minutes and if the saute is starting to get too dry in the pan, add about a 1/4 c of the water from the pasta pot. (I just use a small saucepan to get the water).
– To make sure the cauliflower is not too al dente, you can cover the pan after you add the water for a minute or two.
– When the pasta is al dente, add to the saute pan and toss the pasta with all the items in the pan for a couple minutes, add a little more olive oil and a little more water if necessary (water from the pasta pot).
– Transfer to pasta to a large and lovely pasta dish and toss it with the grated cheese.
– Top with fresh bread crumbs, fresh parsley, a couple grinds of fresh pepper.

For the Fresh Bread Crumbs

– preheat oven to 275
– slice french bread in one inch slices
– place slices on cookie sheet
– bake in oven for about 10 minutes
– turn and bake for another 6 minutes – just until dry, but not browned
– break up and put pieces in food processor until a coarse crumble
– increase oven heat to 375
– spread bread crumbs on cookie sheet and drizzle with a little olive oil (about a tbls)
– with your hands, mix thoroughly
– place in oven for about 10 minutes, turning a bit so the bread crumbs brown evenly to a golden color
– set aside (you can definitely store leftover bread crumbs – they are so much better than store bought!)

Serving suggestion – If you don’t like my suggestion to try it for breakfast (kind of joke for some I know), I’d recommend a serving with a small endive salad and glass of white wine.
Enjoy!