Golden Spaghetti

The harmonious Mediterranean flavours of this dish call out to be served on a terrace in Portofino. I gave them a blustery day in February, and they can just deal with that.

I came up with this when I was using up a cauliflower and turmeric purée from this recipe. I put it with spaghetti, tossed in some extra bits and ended up with a dish everyone liked more than the one the purée was originally made for. Golden Spaghetti was born.

What I love about this dish is how indulgent it tastes, as if the sauce is made from butter, cream and olive oil alone - its not. Golden Spaghetti is one of the healthiest recipes I've written, the creamy texture comes from the cauliflower. There is actually no butter or cream in this recipe at all, and olive oil is an entirely optional after thought.

Ingredients for two people
Two hundred grams of 00 flour,
Two eggs,
One cauliflower head, roughly chopped.
Two teaspoons of turmeric,
Fifty millilitres of milk
Sliced black olives
Young spinach leaves
Two garlic cloves, crushed.
Onion powder/granules
Salt
White pepper

The first thing you need to do is make your spaghetti. I wrote a recipe teaching you how to do that here. But basically if you follow the one hundred grams of flour to one egg rule you can't go wrong. Mix the flour and eggs together in a bowl, add a little salt if you like and then roll out on a flat surface as thin as you possibly can. Cut long, skinny strips and hang them over a wire hanger to dry for about an hour.

For the sauce, you will need to gently cook your cauliflower in the milk in a sauce pan on medium heat. Add the garlic and turmeric once the cauliflower starts of soften. Once the cauliflower is cooked, blend the whole mixture together until you have a gorgeously smooth purée. Put the purée back in the saucepan, and generously add onion granules, salt and white pepper.

Boil your spaghetti for about eight to ten minutes in slightly salted water, drain it in a colander and mix it into the saucepan. Toss the spaghetti with some black olive rings and spinach and your done. I served mine with some finely sliced vine tomatoes sprinkled with olive oil.

Hamilton