If you don’t like cauliflower, I strongly suggest you give this dish a chance. Personally, I’m not a big cauliflower fan. To me it’s a crunchy, tough, flavorless vegetable. I’m much happier with it’s sister: broccoli. But this pasta dish gave the vegetable a second chance for me. The key is slow cooking the cauliflower to bring out a sweet caramelized flavor. This dish is a perfect first dish for dinner if you’re serving a hearty meat dish as a second. It remains light and fresh with vegetables and lemon, but the grated egg makes it filling and satisfying.
Roasting the pine nuts is worth totally worth it. Gives the nuts an amazing smokey flavor.
Enjoy this recipe to serve 4 (and then some)!
Ingredients
- 1 head of cauliflower (chopped into small florets)
- 3 eggs (boiled and grated)
- 1.5 large white onion (diced)
- 5 garlic cloves (crushed)
- 1 package (16 oz) of rigatoni or penne pasta
- 1/2 cup of grated pecorino (or parmesean) cheese
- 1 cup of fresh arugula leaves
- 1/2 of a fresh lemon
- 1 teaspoon of red chili pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 2 teaspoons of fresh ground black pepper
- 8 oz. of pine nuts
- 8 oz. of olive oil
1. Heat 6 oz. of olive oil in a large skillet with the garlic and red chili pepper flakes until the flavors are infused together.
2. Add the onions, cauliflower, and salt to the skillet. Cook on medium heat stirring quickly for about 20 minutes or until the cauliflower becomes sweet, tender, and caramelized.
3. Meanwhile, boil and cook the pasta to instructions.
4. Once the vegetables and pasta are ready, drain the pasta and add to the vegetables and stir together on the stove.
5. Toss the pasta and vegetables with the fresh arugula, pine nuts, grated eggs, cheese, and the ground black pepper.
6. Add the remaining olive oil and squeeze the lemon juice over the pasta (watch out for the seeds!)
Serve warm. Bon appetito!
