Roasted Garlic, Cauliflower Pasta

This easy-peasy pasta features buttery soft cauliflower, fresh greens, sharp parmesan, and a topping of toasted breadcrumbs. This is a perfect weeknight dinner or can be doubled and stuck in the oven for a casserole-style family-style dinner. Enjoy!

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This recipe is the definition of comfort food - warm, cheesy, but not heavy, this may replace your favorite mac-and-cheese with its gooey, soft cauliflower and crunchy breadcrumb top. For me, the real draw of this recipe is how easy it is with so few ingredients. I tend to always keep a block of parmesan cheese at home due to the sheer amount of pasta I love to eat; garlic stays fresh for weeks on the countertop; and red pepper flakes are a great staple for the spice cabinet to accompany pantry pasta and a stock of olive oil. Which basically means if you are standing at the store, still and mind blank, wondering, "What do I make for dinner tonight and what do I have to buy?" the answer is just 1) Cauliflower and 2) Greens. Couldn't be simpler.

The greens for this recipe can be frozen (such as frozen kale or even spinach), but I prefer fresh dino kale (aka lacinto kale), swiss chard, or spinach. These get washed and roughly chopped or torn for the recipe, so the work is kept to a minimum. As you prepare the kale, if you are using fresh, you can choose to take a paring knife and cut out the ribs in the middle but can be left in if you don't mind a little more chew.

This is a one pan cook - start with cooking the garlic for a minute at medium heat until it is fragrant and slightly browning. Use a large pan, preferably with tall sides. Add the florets and cut up white stem of the cauliflower. They will soften substantially - don't worry if the florets overflow the pan - as they steam and soften, they will shrink in size.

Add half of the water (1/2 cup) to the pan with the cauliflower and cover with a lid (if the lid doesn't fit on with cauliflower, that's ok, but place it on top to help the steaming. As the cauliflower softens, stir from the bottom of the pan, getting up the garlicky bits so they don't burn, and adding oil as necessary. Then add the remaining water and let it reduce by about half - this will serve as the base of your flavorful sauce.

The cauliflower gets nice and browned, while the greens remain tender - it is so delicious and garlicky! Then, the little extra touch of the toasted breadcrumbs and salty cheese makes this recipe a real winner. This is a go-to whenever I am short on time but want something that will yield leftovers. The nice thing about pasta dishes, too, is that you can stretch them by adding a bit more of the pasta itself to the recipe if you have more mouths to feed.

Toasting breadcrumbs

Toasting breadcrumbs adds a warm, inviting flavor to dishes and can be a nice texture, particularly in dishes where many of the elements are soft. They can also help soak up extra liquid to create a thick, creamy sauce rather than a thin, wet one. Toast breadcrumbs by adding them to a dry pan on a low heat in an even layer.

How do you know when your breadcrumbs are toasted? Well, make sure you are constantly stirring - you don't want the bottom to burn even if the top seems fine. Allow the crumbs to change one shade in color - you don't want them going from tan to black. You want them to look like when you take a piece of bread and toast it on a low setting - golden and a little darker than before. You'll also know the magic is working because you will smell a little toasty flavor, but not a burnt one. If you are trying things out and go too far by accident, it is ok: just toss (compost) the burnt breadcrumbs, wipe out the pan, and try again. No biggie!

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Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 30 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients

1/4 cup olive oil

1 lb cavatappi or similar short pasta shape

4 large cloves garlic, minced

1 large head cauliflower

1 cup water

1 bunch dino kale (also known as lacinto kale), or another green

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese, such as Grana Padano

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

salt

Equipment

Large pasta pot

Large, lidded pan, preferably straight-sided

Instructions

• Rinse the head of cauliflower and shop off the woody stalk at the base. Break the head into large florets and set aside. Chop up the smaller stems into rounds.

• Add half the olive oil to the pan, enough to coat the bottom and turn the heat up to medium

• When the oil gets warm, add the garlic and let it cook until it is just starting to become aromatic and brown, add the cauliflower florets and half of the water (1/2 cup).

• Put the lid on the pan and let steam for approximately seven minutes, until the cauliflower is still intact but tender - you should be able to easily pierce the florets with a knife, without them falling apart, to test.

• While the cauliflower is steaming, wash your kale (or other greens, if substituting) and coarsely chop or tear into pieces. If you are using frozen greens, skip this step.

• When the cauliflower is ready, add the greens and cover for another five minutes until the greens have softened slightly - this will be particularly helpful for coarser greens such as kale. If you are using frozen greens, this will have given time for it to thaw and separate. All the water should have boiled off at this point.

• In the meantime, bring a large pot of water to boil for the pasta.

• Remove the lid from the pan and add the remaining oil - depending on the size of your cauliflower, you may need to add more than the recipe calls for, which is fine. Make sure the oil can coat the cauliflower and greens.

• Turn the pan heat up to medium high and add the red pepper flakes. The softened vegetables will start to brown - stir from the bottom of the pan regularly for about seven minutes, until the cauliflower is browning and sticking a little. Add the remaining water and stir occasionally, uncovered, letting the liquid reduce by half and the veggies to simmer. Scrape the bottom of the pan to get up all the crisped bits from the bottom while deglazing. Turn the heat to low.

• When your pasta water is ready, add your pasta and salt the water liberally - all the salt from the recipe comes from the pasta water. Cook to al dente. You can stretch the volume of pasta to 1.5 pounds if needed, or even 2 pounds if your cauliflower head was extra large.

• If your cauliflower pan has evaporated all its water, add approximately 1/2 cup from the pasta water to the pan and stir. Drain the pasta into a strainer and add the pasta back to the empty pot. Coat with a drizzle of olive oil to prevent sticking and add the contents of the pan with the cauliflower to the pot. Put the pot on low heat and stir to combine.

• Wipe the cauliflower pan clean (this should not be difficult, since you deglazed the pan with water to get up all the stuck pieces) and add the breadcrumbs to coat the bottom of the dry pan. Turn the heat to medium low and stir or shake the pan every 30 seconds to prevent burning. After approximately three minutes, the breadcrumbs will be toasted. Turn off the heat.

• Add the breadcrumbs to the pasta and the grated parmesan. Mix, add more cheese to each bowl to taste and serve.