Roast Cauliflower Pasta sauce

What with the start of Lent I know some of you are looking for a few meatless meals. This is a family favorite!

Fill a big pot with water.

Add a handful of salt and put the heat up on high.  This is your pasta water. This sauce relies on a few very flavorful ingredients. You want your pasta to be well seasoned or the whole dish will be bland.

There it is! Have you ever dealt with a whole cauliflower? I don't remember seeing one in childhood. I always assumed it's white broccoli but it's very different to cut up. I remember staring at my first cauliflower wondering how to get into it! It's so solid and uniform . . .

Washing it is a good start. When in doubt . . . wash!

Flip it stem end up and find yourself a nice sharp knife.

Cut straight down for about an inch to start.

Remove enough leaves so that you can get a good look at that stem. It is tough!

You want to stick the knife in at an angle and cut into the stem. Turn the cauliflower around and do this on all the sides until it's loose.

Twist it a little and it'll come out.

This is what you're left with. You can see the florets now. You need to make them more accessible to your knife . . .

Splitting the thing in half will make it easier.

Now you can cut them off of that hard core. Chop them up into chunky 1-2 inch pieces.

Now get yourself four beautiful cloves or garlic. Actually, they don't have to be beautiful. After you're done with them they're going to be brown crispy bits of goodness.

Slice them up!

Throw 'em in a cup!

Throw half a teaspoon of salt on it and stir it up. It'll start to break up the garlic. It'll make them give up their garlicky goodness to the . . .

. . . beautiful green extra virgin olive oil you're going to pour on top. I went with 1/3 cup of oil but you could go all the way to a half cup or use as little as 1/4 cup. Are you feeling extravagant today? You could of started with this step if you wanted but I don't know that it matters.

Peel and slice up a couple of yellow onions. Did I mention this dish is a tribute to cruciferous vegetables?

Grab a pan that can go in your oven and on your stove top. A Dutch oven would work good too! You wouldn't have to worry about things flying out of your pan as much! I can't wait till my new Dutch Oven arrives . . . I have too many things flying out of my pan! You'll also want to start preheating your oven to 400 F.

Throw the cauliflower in.

Onions join the party!

Add music . . . um, I mean your garlic infused olive oil!

Toss it! I used my hands. It was easiest. Now this is where a Dutch oven would of been nice. I had to use my hands because cauliflower kept on flying out!

Throw it in the oven! Now you're going to want to toss this around after 10 minutes.

At the 10 minute mark some of my onions were turning dark brown so I turned the heat down to 350 F. Keep stirring it up every 10 minutes or so. It'll take 30 or so minutes for it to get carmelized.

Of course, if you have to take it out of the oven and bake a King Cake in the middle of the procedure it'll take an hour! It held up just fine. So if your kid needs a trip to the ER just turn off the heat and go!

Eventually it gets all roasty and toasty!

The cauliflower, onion, and garlic all take on roasty sweet tones when they're treated like this! I especially like the little blackened bits! If you don't like little blackened bits then don't add the garlic and onion until your cauliflower has been in for 15 minutes or so. I highly recommend trying it this way though!

Now you need one can of petite diced tomatoes with their juice.  There's usually enough room at the top of the can for me to add a few extra ingredients while they wait for their turn.

A few tablespoons of tomato paste. Tomato paste is full of that umami flavor our tongues love. That's why we like it so much!

I always throw my leftover tomato paste in a sandwich bag and freeze it. I have dozens of recipes that just call for a few teaspoons of it and it feels frugal to save t.

Now for a hint of spice. This is a chipotle pepper that's been packed in adobo sauce. It's smokey and spicy!

Chop it up and throw it in that can of tomatoes. Now put the can by the stove top because you're getting ready to rock and roll!

Have you boiled your pasta yet? I like rotelle with this recipe. They're a little thicker than rotini. The rotelle seem to take about 7 minutes to get where I want them.

Dump your tomatoes, tomato paste, and hot pepper into the skillet full of cauliflower and onion! Turn the heat up to medium and stir it around.

Grab 1/2 cup of that pasta water and dump it in the cauliflower. It's a little dry and you want that tomato paste to melt into everything!

Go ahead and reserve a second 1/2 cup of and hold it off to the side. You may need it later. Always be prepared!

Now I like to add a couple cloves of minced garlic. The sliced roasted garlic has a sweet and mellow taste. I want some fresh sharp garlic in my pasta sauce too.

Drain that pasta and toss everything together.

Add that reserved bit of pasta water if things aren't tossing easily!

A little flat leaf parsley adds a beautiful color to this dish! We like to add some Parmesan cheese and fresh ground black pepper to it too.

This dish functions on so many levels! It has everything you need. There is sweetness from the roasted vegetables, bitterness from garlic and chipotle, acid from tomatoes, and salty Parmesan! Oh and there's umami in there from the tomatoes. The cauliflower gives it a meaty texture too. Very satisfying.

Now we all know there are THOSE few people who will say. "Nice side dish honey! Where's the meat?" If you wanted to stir in some leftover chicken or shrimp you certainly could!

Roast Cauliflower Pasta sauce

1 head cauliflower (or two pounds of frozen florets)
2 yellow onions, peeled and sliced
6 cloves garlic
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp table salt
1 14 oz can petite diced tomatoes
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 chipotle pepper, minced

1 lb dried pasta cooked
1 cup of pasta cooking liquid
flat leaf parsley for garnish
Parmesan cheese for garnish

Chop up cauliflower into florets. Slice 4 cloves of garlic. Toss cauliflower with onions, sliced garlic, salt and olive oil. Put in oven safe and stove top safe pan. Roast at 350 for 30 minutes or until done to your liking. Stir every 10 minutes. Move pan to stove top and add canned tomatoes, tomato paste, chipotle pepper. Mince remaining two cloves of garlic and add to pan along with 1/2 cup of pasta water. Bring to simmer stirring often. Toss sauce with hot pasta adding more water if necessary. Garnish.