Roasted Garlic & Cauliflower Pasta

Wow this was such a tasty dish! I made it over the weekend and served it to company. But really once I tasted it all I wanted to do was hoard it all myself. And then I ate the leftovers for 2 days and couldn't stop dreaming about it in between.

The cauliflower and garlic are both roasted. For those who may not have tried roasted garlic and are balking at the 2 entire heads of garlic called for, never fear! Roasting the garlic really mellows it's flavor/bite and turns it into something wondrous indeed. I took the liberty of adding some cream and chicken broth to the original recipe and didn't regret it one little bit. And the toasted walnuts on top were the perfect finishing touch.

I think you'll find that this is the perfect accompaniment to many, many main dishes (I'll share what I served it with in a later post) and it could easily be a meatless main dish in it's own right. It's filling and oh so tasty!

Roasted Garlic & Cauliflower Pasta

{Adapted from Mels Kitchen Cafe}

2 heads garlic, papery skins mostly removed (but keep it intact), top 1/4 of heads cut off from pointy end of garlic and thrown away

6 T olive oil

1 head cauliflower (the bigger the better in my opinion)

1 t salt

1/4 t pepper

1/4 t sugar

1 pound fusilli or rotini or campanelle pasta

1/4 t red pepper flakes

3 T fresh lemon juice

1 cup+ fresh grated parmesan

1/4 cup chopped, toasted walnuts

chicken broth

heavy cream

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Place trimmed heads of garlic, cut side up on a square piece of foil and drizzle with 1 t or so of olive oil. Gather foil up and around garlic to seal well. Place foil packet directly on rack of heated oven. Roast until garlic is very tender, about 40 minutes. Set aside to cool. (May do this a few hours ahead of time and just leave garlic out till ready)

Adjust oven rack to middle position and place a large rimmed baking sheet on middle rack to preheat. Trim outer leaves off the cauliflower and cut it into bite size pieces. Toss in a bowl with 2 T oil, salt, pepper, and sugar. Remove hot baking sheet from oven and carefully spread cauliflower out on it. Sheet back into the oven and roast cauliflower until it's browned and tender, 15-20 minutes.

While cauliflower is roasting bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Add 1 T salt to water and stir in pasta; cook until al dente. Meanwhile squeeze cooled, roasted garlic out of skins into a small bowl. Using a fork, mash garlic well until it's a smooth paste. Stir in red pepper flakes and lemon juice. Slowly whisk in remaining 1/4 cup olive oil.

Drain the pasta and return pasta to pot. Add the chopped cauliflower, stir in garlic sauce, 1/2 cup of chicken broth, cream, and 1 cup of cheese. Adjust the consistency by adding more chicken broth and/or cream. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with toasted walnuts and additional grated cheese. Serves 4-6.