Don’t underestimate this pasta. It is ravishingly good. The roasted garlic transcends this pasta into deeply flavored deliciousness and the oven-roasted cauliflower is fantastic in it’s own right. All of the components of the silky, bright sauce combine to make this pasta dish incredibly tasty while still managing to stay light and fresh.
If you cringe regarding meatless meals, like a certain husband residing in my household, no worries! Serve this to vegetarian lovers or add some grilled chicken into the mix or on the side.
This pasta dish gained rave reviews all around our table and reinforced my love for all things roasted garlic.
One Year Ago: Kalua Pork and The Best Cornbread and Fluffy Honey Butter
Two Years Ago: Sugar Gems
Roasted Garlic and Cauliflower Pasta
Printable Version with Picture
Printable Version
*Serves 4-6
INGREDIENTS:
2 heads garlic, papery skins removed, top quarter of heads cut off (on the pointy side of the garlic) and discarded
6 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 head cauliflower (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 pound short pasta (such as fusilli, rotini or campanelle)
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 – 3 tablespoons juice from 1 lemon
1 tablespoon fresh parsley leaves, chopped
2 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated or shredded (about 1 cup)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
DIRECTIONS:
Adjust an oven rack to the middle position, place a large rimmed baking sheet on the rack, and heat the oven to 450 degrees.
Cut one 12-inch sheet of foil and spread it flat on the counter. Place the garlic heads, cut-side up, in the center of the foil. Drizzle ½ teaspoon olive oil over each head and fold up the sides of the foil to seal well. Place the foil packet directly on the oven rack (not on the preheating baking sheet) and roast until the garlic is very tender, about 40 minutes. Remove the foil packet from the oven, open the foil and set it aside to cool.
While the garlic is roasting, trim the outer leaves of the cauliflower and cut the stem flush with the bottom. Cut the head from pole to pole into 8 equal wedges and then cut the cauliflower into large bite-sized pieces. Place the cauliflower in a large bowl; toss with 2 tablespoons oil, salt, pepper, and sugar.
Remove the hot baking sheet from the oven. Carefully transfer the cauliflower to the baking sheet and spread into an even layer. Return the baking sheet to the oven and roast until the cauliflower is well browned and tender, 15 to 20 minutes
While the cauliflower roasts, bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Add 1 tablespoon salt and pasta; cook until al dente. Squeeze the cooled, roasted garlic cloves from their skins into a small bowl. Using a fork, mash the garlic to a smooth paste, then stir in red pepper flakes and 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Slowly whisk in remaining 1/4 cup oil.
Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup cooking water, and return the pasta to the pot. Add the chopped cauliflower to the pasta; stir in the garlic sauce, ¼ cup cooking water, parsley, and ½ cup cheese. Adjust the consistency of the pasta with additional cooking water and season with salt, pepper, and additional lemon juice to taste. Serve immediately, sprinkling with remaining ½ cup cheese and toasted nuts.
Recipe Source: adapted slightly from Cook’s Illustrated
{ 47 comments… read them below or add one }
YUM! I bet this was really good! Roasting the cauliflower does something magical to it. People who claim to not like cauliflower gobble it up when roasted (like a certain husband in my house)! Thanks for sharing, Mel!
Roasted cauliflower is one veggie I actually like! Tastes like popcorn to me.
This is fabulous. Another way to roast the cauliflower that will gain you some nice caramelization is to slice it into 1/2″ slices which will than lie flat on the baking pan. Also, an unusual kind of pasta that would go with this is strozzapreti. Hard to describe, but Google it if you’re curious. Thanks for whetting my appetite.
Minus the pasta and this is a low-carb friendly item.
Perfect timing! I have a huge head of cauliflower in my fridge and was going to search for a recipe. I’ll be making this dish tonight. Thanks!
Cauliflower is my favorite favorite vegetable! Thanks for this–can’t wait for fall to try it!
raw cauliflower is like dirt in the mouth. roasted, however, it becomes meltingly delicious. great pasta, mel.
Well it sure looks great, Mel! I do love roasted cauliflower and with garlic? YUM.
I LOOOVE cauliflower!! This looks so good, definietly going to try this soon!!
i love your posts!!! all of you recipes are wonderful, i just have one question, on some of your recipes there is not a printable version i love to print them and keep them of file, is there any way to get a printable version an all the recipes? thanks
Yum, Mel! I love cauliflower anything. I will try this as soon as I see a pretty head of organic cauliflower at my local health food store…;-)
I have never roasted cauliflower and now I suddenly need to try it instantly! I will be buying it tomorrow and try this out.
Hi Brittany – I started doing the printable links last year so some of my older recipes don’t have them yet. I am slowly adding them as I go…hopefully there will be a printable link on all the recipes in the next few months.
I made this for dinner last night it was delish! Thanks for all the great recipes!
We had this for dinner last night. So yummy! Thank you!
Thanks, KT!
Thanks, Linsy!
Are you kidding me?? This was an amazing recipe. I was really hesitant at first and was orginally going to half the recipe just to give it a try, but because I procrastinated dinner I was super rushed and forgot all about the halfing. It’s a good thing because my family LOVED this recipe. From my picky 8 year old to the starving teenage athletes it was a huge success and all requested that I make it again. I think it would come together in a snap with just a little practice! Thanks agian for another family favorite!
Thanks, Leisel – I’m thrilled this was a hit with everyone! (Glad you didn’t end up halving the recipe…)
Okay, this was thee BEST dish I’ve made in a while! I absolutely LOVED it. Thank you!
Jessica – I’m thrilled you loved this dish so much, thanks for letting me know!
It seemed a little “dry” so I added 8 oz. of cream cheese – YUM! Even my husband who DOESN’T LIKE CAULIFLOWER loved it! Thanks!
This was surprisingly delicious! My kids and hubby all loved it! It was even great as leftovers. I used whole wheat pasta with it! Yum! All your recipes I have ever tried have been fabulous.
Ok, so maybe this is a silly question, but how do you remove the papery skins of the garlic head and still keep it in tact? What do you do about the skins around each individual clove of garlic?
Hi Jennie – that is definitely not a silly question! I have a garlic tutorial here that explains a bit about garlic and how to peel and chop it. You don’t necessarily need to keep the garlic intact – especially if you are planning on finely mincing it. I always give my garlic a good whack with the flat side of my large knife (as the tutorial states) and it is much easier to peel of the papery skins that way.
Kari – I agree that this meal kind of surprises you with it’s tastiness. I’m thrilled it was a hit and way to go on using whole wheat pasta!
Karen – great idea with the cream cheese. You can also make it more moist by adding more of the reserved pasta water – but it sounds as if it was a hit the way you made it! Hooray!
Oh, maybe I’m confused about the directions for this recipe, then. It says to roast the heads of garlic whole, right? Do I peel off the rest of the skins after it roasts?
I have always used the method you describe in your tutorial for peeling garlic cloves. It’s the idea of peeling the whole head that confuses me.
Jennie – sorry, that was my fault. I thought you were asking about individual garlic cloves. Sorry for the confusion! Ok, back to the question at hand. To roast a whole head of garlic, you don’t need to worry about the papery skins. Cut off a slice from the pointy end of the head of garlic so that the garlic cloves are “exposed” slightly and then drizzle with olive oil, cover with foil and roast. Once it is roasted, the garlic cloves should easily squeeze out of their skins and you don’t need to worry about peeling off any of the papery skin since the garlic cloves pop out easily. Let me know if you have other questions.
This was delicious, loved it. My husband dug it, too.
Just made this for dinner tonight and it is amazing! I love roasted cauliflower and it was SO good with the roasted garlic. Thanks for the great recipe – will definitely be using this one again!
Thanks, Stephanie!
Thanks, Jen. Glad you and your husband loved this one.
So yummy. I added about 3/4 cup cream that I had hanging out in my fridge that needed to be used and it was delicious. Thanks for the recipe, you are my first stop when I am menu planning.
Heather – you don’t have to say cream twice for me to love it. I bet that addition was fantastic. Thanks for the comment!
This is probably my favorite thing I have ever eaten!! I love pasta…my family begged for the recipe….SO AMAZING!! Thanks for sharing. I liked the spiral roll recipe, along with the bread that I made with it…Oh my gosh!! tripple winners!!
Emily – I’m thrilled that this pasta was such a hit. Isn’t the flavor of it utterly amazing? Glad the spiral rolls were a hit, too!
I just made this! It was sooo good! ahh!! amazing! i also made the veggie lasagna.. I think i messed up on that one though. but this one turned out beautifully! so fantastic i love it!
Eirene – oh, this pasta is some of my favorite pasta ever so I’m thrilled you liked it!
Okay, planning on making this this week ..but am a little confused. Do I end up using 2 while heads of garlic? Not just the individual ‘slices’?
Thanks!
Hayley – yes, you want to use 2 entire heads of garlic and not just two cloves. It may seem like a lot but after roasting, the garlic flavor definitely mellows and becomes sweet and tender.
I made your Beach Street Lemon Chicken Linguine yesterday and LOVED it. Sadly though, my husband was not a fan. He claims he’s not a lover of “zesty” dishes (meaning, lemony). I was bummed because that probably would have been a frequent dinner meal of ours otherwise!
Anyway, when I went grocery shopping last week, this meal was also a meal I had on my list to make, since some ingredients are the same…but now I’m worried as to how “lemony” this dish is? If you can really taste the lemon in this dish, would it be terrible to leave it out, or is there some substitution of another flavor that you think would work? I just don’t want to hear the same complaints twice – I’m sure you understand what a bummer it is to be excited about a new meal only to sit down to “um, I’m sure this dish came out exactly like it was supposed to but I don’t like this type of stuff” reviews!
Shannon – the lemon flavor in this dish is definitely subtle – much more subtle than the Beach Street linguine dish. The lemon in the roasted pasta and cauliflower recipe just enhances the overall flavor and adds a bit of brightness. Having said that, you could easily leave it out to appease your husband and it would still taste delicious.
Will this work with frozen cauliflower? I live in middle-of-nowhere Alaska where fresh veggies are hard to come by (at a decent price) in winter.
Jen – I don’t know since I haven’t tried it, but if you do, let me know. The moisture content will probably be higher in the frozen cauliflower so I’m not sure how it will roast/crisp up but the flavor should still be good.
Made this and will def be adding to my side dish (heck, main dish) rotation! I added a little heavy cream and chicken broth in place of the pasta water. Loved it so much!
Yes! frozen cauliflower works. I boiled for 2 minutes to “thaw” and put it in the oven as directed. I have made it both ways, with fresh and frozen, and it is delish
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