Home Made Egg Noodles with Cauliflower and Tuna

Pasta all'uovo con Cavolfiore e Tonno.

I had intended to make a tuna noodle casserole tonight but didn't get to the market for noodles and cream of mushroom soup. Actually I was going to use fresh mushrooms to avoid any additives and fat that might be in canned soup unless it was labeled "organic and all natural" which my local IGA does not specialize in.

So I decided to use what I had on hand - and ended up skipping the casserole all together.

Now I haven't made home made egg noodles in a long time, but it is really easy. The hardest part is cleaning up. Although I try to keep flour confined to a small area, I tend to be a bit messy and, well, there's white all over the counter and me.

To get back to what I did have on hand: Eggs, flour, canned tuna,  a nice big cauliflower, garlic of course, red pepper flakes, olive oil, Italian flavored bread crumbs.

So I decided on home made egg noodles with cauliflower and tuna. To be honest I had some doubts about how this combination would taste, especially after I added the tuna...

I didn't take pictures while I was cooking - only the final dish - nor did I measure it all out. If you need details on home made egg noodle manufacturing you can check out  How to make egg noodles at this website.

I used 3 large eggs and about 2 to 2.5 cups of flour. Just break the eggs into the mound of flour and stir with a fork until the flour is incorporated a little at a time. Continue until a a soft/stiff dough forms, just past the sticky stage. Let the dough rest a few minutes, roll out thin (1/8 inch or less) on a well floured board, cut into strips or squares. Do not pile up the noodles - keep them separated and lightly floured until ready to cook.

This amount  turned out to be enough for four people or three hungry people. We had leftovers again. Here's the rest of the recipe.

Cut up the cauliflower and immerse the florets in a pot of boiling, salted water for about 4 minutes and removed all the florets with a slotted spoon and set them aside. Keep the pot boiling.

Saute two or three cloves of garlic in some olive oil - enough to cover the bottom of a large cast iron skillet - and add a good teaspoon of red pepper flakes. Cook on high heat until the garlic just begins to brown, lower heat and add three cans of tuna, drained. You don't want to fry the tuna - just heat it through. Add the cauliflower and toss it well to coat the cauliflower with the garlic oil.

Put the noodles into the salted boiling water and cook until two or three minutes after the noodles come to the surface. Remove noodles with a slotted spoon into serving dishes and top with the cauliflower and tuna mixture. Add a little pasta water to make a "sauce" and top with a dusting of Italian bread crumbs which give just enough flavor to make this dish actually better than I had anticipated.

Another simple, delicious and nutritious meal. Dinner's ready! Buon appetito!