Spaghetti with Roasted Cauliflower and Pecans, page127

Several people have asked me if we started at the beginning on the Cooking Wild in Missouri book and are working our way from front to back, like the Julie/Julia Project. Actuaully we are not able to do that. The reason is that our family is hunting and gathering for the recipes, so our schedule is dictated by hunting seasons and when wild nuts, fruits, and mushrooms ripen. There are a few wild ingredients that can be purchased but many cannot. For instance, wild duck and venison are not available for purchase as far as I know. However, some wild ingredients can be purchased such as black walnuts and pecans. Thus far we have been able to make several recipes from catfish, squirrel, venison from last year's deer harvest (all from Fred's hunting), elderberries, hickory nuts and pecans. And, I had a couple trout in the freezer from a local trout farmer so we used that as well.
Last night we made spaghetti with roasted cauliflower and pecans. Totally yummy. With whole wheat pasta, pecans, olives, roasted veggies and romano cheese, this is a hardy vegetarian meal. I kind of like to have a few vegetarian recipes up my sleeve so I can make dinner for our vegetarian friends and will definitely add this to my mental list. Really, it's not doing this recipe justice to list it as just something you'd serve if you have to make a vegetarian dish. It's very rich, full flavored and scrumptios and I'd love to encorporate this dish into my more regular cooking routine.
That's one of the fun aspects of our Woods to Food project. I am used to flipping through a cookbook and finding a recipe that looks good to me and is something I think I can tackle. But, by trying all the recipes in a book, it helps a person expand their taste and cooking skills as well. And, since Cooking Wild . . . has such variety of recipes, and relatively easy to make recipes, and so many recipes that actually work and are tasty, working through the book has been a really successful project for us thus far.