I think that you could make pasta every day for an entire year (my kind of heaven), and never need to duplicate a recipe.  I really do.  Right off the top of my head, I could name close to 100 dishes that make my mouth water.  If I thought longer, and perused my Italian cookbooks and the internet, I know I could find an endless amount of recipes.  Sometimes it’s just the tweaking of an ingredient or two, and then you have an entirely new dish, with an entirely new taste altogether.  As a matter of fact, I have a cookbook titled, “Sunday Pasta” by Edwin Garrubbo, in which he claims that he made a different pasta for his family every Sunday for 5 years.  That seems incredulous, but I believe him!  And by the way, it’s a wonderful cookbook.

This being said, I feel I must share another pasta recipe with you, which is actually a combination of several recipes.  In my family, we love pasta with chick peas (see the archives) and we love pasta with just about any vegetable you can name(  so many in the archives).  So let’s put chick peas and cauliflower together with pasta, and yum!  You’ve got something new and full of flavor and texture.

Pasta with cauliflower and chick peas will be my 52nd pasta recipe on this blog.  I’ve got a long way to go to catch Edwin Garrubbo!  I just might take the challenge.  I’m feeling competitive.  Care to join me?

Recipe:  serves 4 to 6

1 pound fusilli or other short pasta

1/2 cup olive oil

3 cloves garlic, sliced

1/4 tsp hot red pepper flakes, if desired

1/4 tsp oregano

1 medium cauliflower, cut into florets

1 19 ounce can of chick peas

3 TBSP bread crumbs

1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese, plus more for passing

salt and pepper to taste

1.  Bring large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add the cauliflower and pasta to the water.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a skillet.  Add the garlic and hot pepper seeds.  Sauté for 5 minutes, making sure not to brown the garlic.
3. Add the chick peas and oregano to the skillet and cook through, about 10 minutes on low heat.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. By the time the pasta is done, the cauliflower should be a nice texture.  Drain.
5. Put pasta and cauliflower in a large serving bowl.  Add the chick peas.  Toss well.
6. Add the breadcrumbs and grated cheese and toss again.