Nutty Vegetarian Pasta

We are doing 2-3 vegetarian meals a week in 2013! so i needed to expand my horizons so I jumped over to The Smitten Kitchen. This was one of those meals created by being inspired by a cauliflower walnut pasta salad but then branched off on my own. I'm happy with how it turned out and so for the first time in many months I'm blogging it for posterity!

Ingredients
1 head Cauliflower- cut into florets
1 lb whole wheat thin spaghetti pasta cooked in salt- save a cup of pasta water
1-2 sweet bell peppers- chopped
2 zucchini diced
1/2 small container ricotta cheese
3/4-1 cup walnuts- chopped
1 large purple onion- chopped
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
Parmesan cheese
1 lemon
Evoo
Salt and pepper
Garlic powder or minced
Cayenne (optional)

Pasta-Cook the pasta 1 minute under the package cook time. Toss in a glog of evoo, 1/2 cup pasta water (add more if needed), and 1/2 juiced lemon. Add some Parmesan cheese to lightly coat. Salt, pepper, and garlic powder it to taste.

Walnuts-In a pan toast walnuts until golden in 1 tb of butter or evoo. Remove from pan & toss in pasta.

Veggies-Heat a bit of evoo in a pan and sauté the purple onion and garlic. Add cauliflower and cook until slightly golden. Sprinkle cayenne, salt, and pepper. Put a glug of the white wine vinegar. Add bell peppers for a couple minutes, then the zucchini. Continuously stir veggies. If the bottom looks like its too hot, add some water or wine to pick up the stuck pieces on the bottom. Cook until soft and yummy but not mushy.

Add ricotta cheese to pasta.

Plate some pasta, cheese, nut mixture and top with the veggies. Serve with bread of your choice! I added feta to my leftovers the next and if was delish!