roasted cauliflower carbonara-ish.

Hi. I know, it’s been a few weeks since my last post. I’m sorry. I was dealing with some personal things and I wasn’t cooking - but I should have been! Cooking is a great way to cope when things get tough. Honestly though, I couldn’t really find the energy. But time is your friend when you’re healing - and the awesome team at Community Grains sent me some pasta. So, I’m officially back in the kitchen.

I recently traveled to Houston for work, and when the activities stopped the hunger hit hard. I spent a lot of the plane ride home discussing food with a friend. He mentioned that one of his favorite pasta dishes was carbonara because “it’s basically breakfast pasta”. Alright, unpopular opinion over here - I hate carbonara. It always looks fantastic, but it’s just way too eggy for me. So, that conversation was the inspiration for this carbonara-ish pasta.

It’s kinda carbonara, but it’s kinda not.

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So, a little bit of a plug here — if you didn’t read my last post about how much I adore Community Grains. Their pasta is the best. This brand is so transparent about sourcing - their pasta inventory changes with each grain harvest. The products are truly whole milled - which means a very limited loss of nutrients. No sugar, no sodium, at least 7 grams of fiber, 6 grams of protein, and a whole lot of potassium? Yes, please. The Community Grains linguine added so much flavor to this dish.

As most of my recipes containing bacon begin, you’re going to fry the pieces of bacon first so that you can use the rendered fat as part of your dish. No waste, peeps! You’ll pan roast the cauliflower with garlic, scallions, and seasoning in that bacon fat with some salt and pepper. After all of that goodness is browned and tender, it will go in a blender with vegetable or chicken stock to create a creamy, smooth sauce. If you don’t have a Vitamix yet, please let me convince you that it’s going to be your greatest time-saving investment. I use mine multiple times a week - so worth the expense! I also have an amazing pomodoro sauce recipe coming soon for you blender owners.

Alright, back to business… so you’ll get your pasta going while you’re blending that sauce together. The sauce will be transferred back into the original saucepan on low heat. You’ll stir in some fats because it’s not even carbonaraish if you don’t. I used Parmesan cheese and a drizzle of olive oil to give it that luxurious viscosity. But you don’t want cauliflower pureé, so to return to that carbonaraish consistency, you can add pasta water as needed. This is the reason I recommend adding semolina flour to your pasta water always, because the starch can really help bind sauces.

To finish the sauce, you’ll stir in the peas. Give the sauce a taste at this point and determine if you’d like to add anymore salt and pepper to it. White pepper will give you a nuttier flavor, black pepper will give you a sharper zing. I use both. When adding additional salt, be mindful that you’ve boiled your pasta in salted water and you’ll top your pasta with bacon. Both of these steps will provide additional saltiness. Spare your blood pressure.

When the pasta is finished cooking, you’ll drain it and then add it to your sauce pan. Toss or fold until evenly coated. When serving, top your pasta with the bacon. If you’d prefer to finish it off in a more impressive way - add some breadcrumbs or additional cheese. The world is your oyster. I’m not a nutritionist - so I won’t claim this recipe is a healthy alternative to anything - but it is simple, easy, delicious, and comforting.

Dare I invite some carbonara fans over to give this one a try?

Recipe

Roasted Cauliflower Carbonara-ish

Servings: 4 | Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook time: 20 minutes

Recommended Wine Pairing

Chianti or Pinot Grigio

INGREDIENTS

16 oz. whole grain pasta
1 pinch of semolina flour
4 slices of bacon, chopped
1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets
1 bunch scallions, sliced (whites only)
3 cloves garlic, smashed with the side of a knife
1 c. chicken or vegetable stock
1 c. peas, fresh or frozen
1 tbsp. parsley
1/2 c. parmesan cheese, grated [optional]
1 tbsp. olive oil
White pepper + black pepper, to taste
Kosher salt, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Boil a pot of salted water with a pinch of semolina flour.
Heat a pan on high heat and add the chopped bacon to it. Constantly moving to avoid burning, crisp the bacon. This usually takes 5-7 minutes.
Turn the heat to low and remove the bacon with a slotted spoon, leaving the bacon fat in the pan.
Add the cauliflower florets to the pan and turn the heat back up the medium. Season with white pepper, black pepper, and salt. After 5 minutes, add the smashed garlic, scallions, and 1/4 c. of stock to the pan with the cauliflower. Continue cooking for 10 additional minutes until cauliflower is browned and fork tender.
Tip: You want your vegetables to brown, but not burn. If you notice it burning - add more stock to the pan and steam by placing a lid over the pan.
Using an immersion blender or standalone blender (♥ Vitamix) , blend the contents of the pan and additional stock until smooth. The consistency should be thin enough to slowly slide off the back of a spoon.

Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook as directed on it’s package.
If you used a standalone blender: Place the contents of the blender back into the pan and simmer on very low heat.
Gradually stir in the parmesan cheese and a drizzle of olive oil. Note: This will make the sauce a bit thicker.
While the pasta is boiling, take a bit of pasta water and add it to the sauce to thin it back out. You’ll want to do this until you’ve reached a close consistency of true carbonara.
Stir the peas into the sauce. If you’re using frozen peas, cook these in the sauce until they are unfrozen.
Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce pan, tossing until evenly coated.
Sprinkle the bacon over the pasta to serve.