Pasta With Roasted Cauliflower and Blue Cheese
- Total Time
- 55 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1head cauliflower, cut into ¾-inch florets
- ¼cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ¾teaspoon kosher salt, more as needed
- 1teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1large or 2 small leeks, halved and thinly sliced
- 2cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1tablespoon thyme leaves, more for serving
- 8ounces short pasta such as campanelle, orecchiette, conchiglie, farfalle or fusilli
- 3tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature
- 6ounces Gorgonzola dolce, crumbled, at room temperature
- Fresh lemon juice, to taste
- 2tablespoons chopped chives, for serving
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
607 calories; 36 grams fat; 16 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 16 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 54 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 5 grams sugars; 20 grams protein; 668 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, toss cauliflower with olive oil, salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Spread onto a rimmed baking sheet in an even layer, and bake for 20 minutes.
- Step 2
Add leeks, garlic and thyme to the cauliflower on the sheet pan, then roast another 20 minutes, tossing the vegetables halfway through, until they are very tender and deeply caramelized.
- Step 3
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Cook pasta until it is 1 minute shy of being al dente. (It will continue to cook in the residual heat of the pot.) Scoop out about 1 cup pasta water (a coffee mug is good for this), then drain pasta. Return the pasta to the empty pot, along with butter, Gorgonzola, remaining ¾ teaspoon pepper and ½ cup pasta water, stirring to melt cheese.
- Step 4
Toss roasted vegetables into pasta, then stir in lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Add more pasta water if mixture looks dry. To serve, spoon into bowls and top with chives and sprinkle of thyme leaves.
Private Notes
Comments
This recipe sounds heavenly but I'm not a big fan of blue cheeses. Can you recommend a different kind of cheese that would work with this recipe? Thank you!
Before writing off blue cheeses, why don’t you try the blue? But be SURE to get Gorgonzola from Italy or Roquefort from France. The flavor is quite different; and be sure it’s fresh (by which I mean, that it hasn’t dried out sitting in your fridge for three weeks). Quite frankly, there is nothing so good as pasta with a blue cheese sauce. A cool idea for a bit of textured topping might be some medium chopped walnuts sprinkled on top...JMJ, gotta run to make this!!!!
Perhaps a goat cheese + parmesan or Asiago (salty/sweet) + a little cream... Or creme fraiche with goat
Better than the sum of its parts - that’s always the mark of a stellar dish for me. Good quality gorgonzola dolce and fusilli al ferretto made this feel like a high-end dish I’d happily serve in a large centre platter for guests. I roasted the veggies in advance when I had time, so pulling this dish tofu in the end took just 20 mins. Another reason to use this as a go-to entertaining recipe.
Perfect! Roasted the cauliflower and leeks in my air fryer to save on time. I loved the unique dimension that the leeks add. Lovely weeknight meal that went well with a Malbec-Tannat blend from Cahors.
We loved this pasta! It is so unique, easy, and delicious. My leeks were large, and slightly overpowering, so next time I'll be sure to use one large or two small, as the recipe recommends. I would also only roast the cauliflower for a total of 20 minutes, only doing the second roasting, along with the leeks. 40 minutes was too long, as I like the cauliflower on the firmer side. The soft texture made them less noticeable.