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 I 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 looks like a simple, elegant dish, and when you taste it, the cauliflower impact is enormous.
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