Chilli with Tears

I was supposed to go to the football, with cucciolo mio last night.

Anticipating few vegan food options, and a chilly autumn night, I made a pot of chilli.

As it turned out, cucciolo mio bought home an orphan stray kitten.

We nixed our plans in favour of looking after, the little fuzzball of cuteness.

Sadly, little one ended up dying last night :'(

We don't even really know what happened to her. She just started crashing, and never got better..

Cucciolo mio and I were so upset, we didn't feel like eating at all.

Today I am still feeling a little tender..

But with a big pot of chilli in the fridge, I decided I should eat some for lunch.

I made up the chilli recipe- I've made chilli so many times, I know the basic formula now..

Still, right now I can't remember what I put in it.

Cauliflower Pasta with Toasted Breadcrumbs

It's always a challenge, when you have a few lonely vegetables in your crisper, and not much else by way of ingredients.

I realised, despite good intentions- a lot of vegetables I buy, go straight from crisper to compost.

So, in the spirit of 'use what you have', this pasta was born..

I've been a bit bored with pasta lately- I know all my own tricks too well..

But this was something new, and it was really quick and easy to make- always a bonus.

I don't know if it was the addition of fuoco d'amore (Fire of Love) chilli sauce (actually a gift for my husband), but this dish was really a flavour notch above my usual pasta staples..

Makes 2 serves

Ingredients:

1 Tbs olive oil

1/4 onion (I like red)

1/2 cup mushrooms (diced)

1 garlic clove (minced)

2/3 cup cauliflower (chopped into small florets)

2/3 cup diced tomatoes (I use organic tinned/canned)

1 tsp chilli sauce [I used fuoco d'amore (product of italy) but you can use any that contains real chillies]

2 Tbs water

250g(about) dried pasta (I used wholemeal penne)

2 Tbs breadcrumbs

2 Tbs pine nuts

2 tsp mixed dried herbs (I wanted to use 2 Tbs fresh parsley)

Method:

1.Put oil in a fry-pan on medium heat, and cook onions until golden.

Add mushrooms, until softened, then add garlic. Cook until garlic is golden but not brown.

2.Add cauliflower, diced tomatoes, chilli sauce and water, and stir until well combined. Cover.

3.Cook pasta, as per directions.

Place breadcrumbs, pine nuts and herbs on a lined baking tray, and place under the grill/broiler.

Keep an eye on them(I burnt one lot!). Toast til golden, then set aside.

4.By the time your pasta's done, your cauliflower should be nice and tender- if not, continue to cook until it is.

Drain pasta.

With your frypan on the still warm, hotplate, add pasta, and stir well to coat.

Stir in breacrumb mixture.