Cavatelli with Bread Crumbs, Pancetta and Cauliflower

I wonder a bit if this is a case of my rating being ticked up a notch by the fact that this was tastier than I was expecting. Another of those days when I stayed at my desk later than expected and I was looking for a pantry meal using ingredients already on hand. I wasn't really expecting much --- cavatelli not my favorite pasta, cauliflower can be a little bland, just a pinch of red pepper flakes and some chopped parsley to pump up the flavor. Still ... there was pancetta ... and this turned out to be a very satisfying bowl of pasta.

As might be expected from Lidia, the cavatelli is the perfect pasta shape for this dish in which cauliflower is cut into small florets and the pancetta into small batons. It even turned out to be more appealing from a presentation point of view than I was expecting.