Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower and Breadcrumbs

by Kim Walker | Comments

Dinner Diary


As soon as I saw this recipe at Simply Recipes, I bookmarked it. A head of cauliflower had been languishing in my crisper drawer for at least a week, and roasting it side-by-side with cherry tomatoes, then tossing it with prosciutto and pasta, sounded heavenly. It's not the recipe for the dish photographed here, though. I just couldn't get over the price of cherry tomatoes and prosciutto; I must've picked up, then put down, that plastic clamshell of tomatoes 3 or 4 times. In the end I passed without a plan for my pasta and cauliflower—penny-wise but pound-foolish, perhaps? I ended up with a poor-woman's version of the dish (if that poor woman happens to have a bit of Parmesan in the fridge already). The bright, tart flavor of the tomatoes was sorely missed, however. Sometimes you make do with what you have; in those cases, toasted breadcrumbs are a suitable substitute, adding a crisp contrast to the other textures in the bowl.

I began with the cauliflower, breaking it up into florets and tossing it with salt, pepper and olive oil. I roasted that on a rimmed baking sheet in a 425-degree oven for 20 minutes. While that was roasting, I cooked short corkscrew pasta in salted water and made the breadcrumbs. I warmed some olive oil in a small skillet and added minced garlic; when I could smell the garlic, I quickly added some breadcrumbs. I used panko, but if you wanted to stick to the budget mindset you should use whatever you have. Stir the crumbs until brown, then pull the skillet off the heat to cool. When the pasta and cauliflower are done, toss them with toasted breadcrumbs, shredded Parmesan and some olive oil.

Tomatoes may be pricey in my grocery, but I have seen asparagus and broccoli on sale in recent weeks:

Noodle Pancakes

Spaghetti Verde

Bow-Ties with Broccolini and Ham

Do you make substitutions in your recipes when an ingredient seems too expensive? Kim Walker