We eat A LOT of pasta in my house because my kids love it, and they will eat literally any vegetable I put into a pasta dish, including cauliflower.
This cauliflower sauce was quite easy to make, as it involves boiling cauliflower and cutting it up into tiny pieces.
Any pasta shape is going to be fine, but I like to use pasta shells because they really “hang on” to the cauliflower bits better than a lot of other pasta shapes.
You can save a lot of time by boiling the cauliflower first, skimming the cauliflower out of the pot with a slotted spoon, and dropping the pasta right into the pot of boiling water. Water takes a long time to boil, and waiting for water to boil is one of the biggest kitchen timewasters!
I used leftover No-Knead Pumpkin Rolls for the breadcrumbs here, which is why they are orange. You can use any breadcrumbs you want! Stale bread that you’ve ripped up yourself, panko, or plain bread crumbs-in-a-can are all good options.
Pasta Shells With Cauliflower
Ingredients
- 8 ounces uncooked pasta shells
- ½ head of cauliflower (cut into florets)
- 1½ tablespoon olive oil (divided use)
- 2 garlic cloves (minced)
- 3 green onions (chopped, white parts and green parts separated)
- 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
- 2 tablespoon bread crumbs
- 1 ounce Parmesan cheese (grated or shredded)
Instructions
- Boil a medium-sized saucepan full of water.
- Cut the cauliflower into florets, rinse clean and add the florets to the pan of boiling water. Let the cauliflower boil for about 10 minutes, until soft.
- Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in another pan over medium heat. Cook the garlic, and the white parts of the green onion.
- When the cauliflower is soft, use a slotted spoon to remove the cauliflower from the boiling water. Transfer the cauliflower to the pan with the garlic and green onions, using a spatula to break the cauliflower up into tiny pieces.
- You can add the uncooked pasta to the pot of boiling water, and let the pasta cook as you continue to work on the sauce.
- Add the chicken broth to the cauliflower mixture, and bring it to a boil.
- Turn the heat down to low or medium-low and let the cauliflower mixture simmer while the pasta shells are cooking.
- Heat the remaining ½ tablespoon of olive oil in a small skillet and toast the breadcrumbs. (I used breadcrumbs from last night's pumpkin bread.)
- Stir together the cooked pasta, the cauliflower mixture, the breadcrumbs and the Parmesan cheese.
