Spicy Cauliflower Pasta with Garlic, Anchovies and Capers

How do you get kids and most adults to like their cauliflower? The secret is: Roast it! Then you pep it up with garlic, fennel, anchovies, capers and some pepper flakes. I swear, this spicy cauliflower pasta dish is one of my daughter's favorite. She fights you for the left overs the next day. To me that says it all. Forget about your ordinary pasta sauce and give this spicy cauliflower dish a try. It is very quick to assemble and surprises your taste buds in an extraordinarily pleasant way.

 Ingredients:

*  1 pkg. organic Penne pasta (about 400 g)

*  1 bigger head organic cauliflower, cut into smaller florets
*  salt and pepper to taste
*  olive oil
*  10 gloves of garlic, chopped
*   2 tablespoons fennel seeds
*   2 tins of anchovies with capers, drained and chopped
*   Red pepper flakes to taste
*   Pecorino Romano cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Place the cauliflower on a baking sheet, sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes or until the cauliflower is starting to brown and almost done (you still want a little bit of bite).

In a smaller bowl mix together anchovies, fennel, garlic and red pepper flakes. I used about 1/2 teaspoon at first and sprinkled some more pepper flakes over the finished dish to the spiciness my family liked. You just have to try it.

Cook the pasta in salted water until al dente, drain, but reserve about 1 cup of pasta water.

Heat a little bit of olive oil in a bigger pan. Add the anchovy paste and cook, while stirring, for one minute. Mix in the cauliflower, pasta and some pasta water. Make sure the dish is heated through. Add more pasta water if the mixture seems to dry. Sprinkle with more pepper flakes and serve with grated Pecorino cheese on top.

Adapted from Adam "The Amateur Gourmet".