In the realm of comfort food, pasta holds a revered place, usually bathed in a slow-cooked, heavy sauce or a rich, creamy sauce—both doused with cheese. Picture, if you will, a humble cauliflower. Often overlooked in favor of its more vibrant cousins, this cruciferous vegetable has long awaited its moment in the spotlight. Rarely does a whole head of cauliflower and a light hand with the cheese make an appearance in something called comfort food, but allow me to introduce you to something distinctly categorized as such: Creamy Cauliflower Pasta with Pecorino Bread Crumbs.
This dish is not just pasta with cauliflower. It’s more cauliflower with pasta. Rarely do you see a recipe serving four containing just eight ounces of pasta, but I’ve long believed pasta serving sizes are too big, and I can never get through a whole bowl where the noodles have the starring role.
This recipe is a symphony where cauliflower plays the lead, transforming through caramelization into a sauce that is at once creamy, comforting, and not at all boring. Cauliflower sometimes gets a bad rap—it can be boring, mushy when overcooked, and—ahem—give off some unpleasant odors. However, add caramelized, crispy bits, and the vegetable is completely transformed. Try roasting a whole head of cauliflower with lots of olive oil over high heat and tell me that doesn’t change your mind.
One of my signature moves is making reduced cream sauces for pasta in lieu of a roux-based sauce. They’re 1) easier and 2) so much more luxurious than a flour-thickened sauce. The lazy dinner I make several times a month when I just can’t be bothered to think of something else to make is a bastardized version of alfredo sauce made simply by reducing cream with smashed garlic cloves until very thick, adding tons of Parmesan, and finishing with pasta water to make the perfect coat-every-noodle sauce. The sauce is this recipe almost mirrors that—another reason to love it.
This is an Alison Roman recipe; I originally sourced it from NYT Cooking (behind a paywall), but I see it’s also free on her website. I’ve made a few adjustments to the recipe but stayed pretty close to the original (it was already pretty perfect).
Here’s how you make this Creamy Cauliflower Pasta with Pecorino Bread Crumbs:
Step 1: Cook the pasta, reserving some of the pasta water to make a luscious sauce without overloading it with cream.
Step 2: MAKE THE PECORINO BREAD CRUMBS. Need I say more? Okay, I’ll say more. This is the secret to the addictiveness of this dish. Imagine golden bits of crunchy goodness, each crumb a testament to the power of simplicity in elevating a dish from good to unforgettable. Tossed in olive oil and toasted to perfection, they add a textural contrast that is absolutely necessary in a dish that could easily read “mushy” from the cauliflower and pasta. I used fresh bread crumbs and advise you to do the same; they just hit differently than store-bought crumbs—I love the variety of textures you get from the irregularities of homemade bread crumbs. I make mine when I have a loaf of bread nearing the end of its useful life, when it’s just a little too stale and old to enjoy eating anymore, but you don’t want to waste those last few slices. Cut off some of the crust and discard, then cube the remaining piece. Pulse in a food processor until you get semi-fine bread crumbs (or whatever texture you like). You could, of course, substitute with panko bread crumbs.
Step 3: In the same skillet (another win!), sauté a shallot and the cauliflower until caramelized and tender. Add garlic, chili flakes, lemon zest, and cream, simmering to reduce. Add the cheese, then the cooked pasta, finishing in the sauce for a few minutes to bring all the flavors together and further thicken the sauce. You add the reserved pasta water throughout this process to both finish cooking the noodles and form the final sauce.
Step 4: Serve with the bread crumbs and minced chives on top.
Additions: You can add a variety of ingredients to this recipe to make it whatever you want it to be. Bacon? Sure if you want to add some meatiness. Stir in hearty greens, sautéed mushrooms, or caramelized onions. Add in a couple anchovies when sautéing the cauliflower to make this even more Alison Roman-esque. The world is your oyster.
Nigella Lawson wrote a devotional defending brown food in her book Cook, Eat, Repeat, arguing “how so many of the foods that are exquisite in real life, like stews and braises, just have a total flattening effect in photos, all of their beauty is taken away when they’re put behind a camera lens” (from The New Yorker) or when set on the table. They are misconstrued as “unappetizing” because they’re not necessarily beautiful or colorful. I think about this often why brown food often gets set aside, relegated to staying in home kitchens, the food people eat and love at home but don’t share with others as much. Let’s bring brown—and beige, by extension—foods out of our kitchens and quit worrying about how they look.
This Creamy Cauliflower Pasta with Pecorino Bread Crumbs is a reminder that, sometimes, the most comforting meals are beige and filled with vegetables.
Creamy Cauliflower Pasta with Pecorino Bread Crumbs
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
Discover the ultimate comfort food recipe: Creamy Cauliflower Pasta with Pecorino Bread Crumbs. A veggie-forward twist on classic mac and cheese, featuring caramelized cauliflower in a decadent sauce with a crispy cheese breadcrumb finish. Perfect for customizing with other vegetables and tidbits from your pantry!
Ingredients
- 8 ounces rigatoni
- 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup (1.5 ounces) fresh bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup (1 oz) finely grated Pecorino Romano cheese, divided, plus more for serving
- 1/4 cup (0.5 oz) finely grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 large shallot, finely minced
- 1 medium head cauliflower (about 2 pounds), outer leaves and core removed, cut into bite-sized pieces (about 3/4-inch each – try to match the size to be a little smaller than a rigatoni noodle)
- 1 medium garlic clove, finely minced
- Red pepper flakes, to taste
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest, plus more for serving
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup finely minced chives
Instructions
- Bring about 3 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot of water. Salt heavily (a scant 1 tablespoon kosher salt). Once boiling, drop the pasta in and cook 1 minute less than the package directions indicate for al dente. Once cooked, reserve 1 cup of pasta water and drain the noodles.
- While the pasta cooks, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the bread crumbs and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, then more frequently once the bread starts to color, until the bread crumbs are an even golden-brown and crispy. Stir in half the Pecorino cheese. Transfer the bread crumbs into a small bowl; set aside.
- Wipe out the skillet and return to medium heat. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the shallot and a pinch of salt, stirring to combine. Add the cauliflower next and season with more salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the cauliflower begins to brown and caramelize, about 12–15 minutes. If you test the cauliflower with a cake tester or paring knife, it should feel completely soft (no resistance in the center). About 1 minute before the cauliflower is done, add the chopped garlic and red pepper flakes, stirring to combine.
- Add the heavy cream and lemon zest; bring to a simmer and let the cream reduce and thicken to a sauce consistency, about 3–4 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the remaining 1/4 cup of Pecorino, 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, and half of the reserved pasta water. Stir to melt the cheese. Add the pasta to the sauce mixture, tossing to coat. Let this cook about 3–5 minutes to combine the flavors and finish the pasta cooking. If the sauce is not (for lack of a better word) saucy and glossy, add more pasta water a little at a time until your desired sauce consistency is reached.
- Remove from the heat and transfer to serving bowls. Top with the reserved Pecorino bread crumbs, additional lemon zest and cheese (if desired), and minced chives.
Notes
Inspiration: Creamy Cauliflower Pasta with Pecorino Bread Crumbs on nytcooking.com (original recipe behind a paywall)
- Category: Pasta & Noodles, Vegetarian Mains
