Pasta with Cauliflower Pesto
Easy and delicious, this is a different way of using cauliflower and a take on traditional pesto. It can become a favorite fast. It's a sauce with Mediterranean flavors that uses cauliflower as its main ingredients. A genius recipe for pasta.
Servings 4 servings
Ingredients
- 4 sun-dried tomatoes
- 1 pound cauliflower
- 1 medium shallot
- pinch red pepper flakes
- ½ cup almonds lightly toasted
- 2 ounces Parmesan cheese or asiago cheese
- 1 tablespoon capers drained
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon salt or to taste
- pinch black pepper or to taste, freshly ground
- 1 pound linguini or pasta of choice
- grated Parmesan cheese or asiago cheese, for serving
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley leaves for serving
Instructions
- In a small bowl, put 4 sun-dried tomatoes and add boiling water to cover. Let stand minutes to soften, then drain and chop coarsely.
- Rinse a 1 pound cauliflower piece, cut off the leaves and hard stalks. Cut into chunks, and put in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Process until the size of couscous; it will be irregular. Transfer to a bowl but don't rinse the food processor bowl.
- Put a large pot of abundant water to boil for cooking the pasta.
- Add 1 medium shallot, pinch red pepper flakes, ½ cup almonds, 2 ounces Parmesan cheese, 1 tablespoon capers, drained, chopped sun-dried tomatoes and 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley to the processor bowl. Process until they're as fine as the cauliflower.
- Add ⅓ cup olive oil and 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar and pulse until a paste forms. If you feel it's too dry for your taste, add another tablespoon of olive oil.
- Transfer to the bowl with the cauliflower, add ¼ teaspoon salt and pinch black pepper, or to taste.
- Cook 1 pound linguini until al dente in abundant salted water according to the package directions. Drain and transfer to a bowl (it can be the serving bowl).
- Add half of the pesto and mix gently. Add the remaining pesto, sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and 1 tablespoon chopped parsley leaves and serve immediately.
- If you don't use all the pesto, refrigerate it in a covered jar or airtight container.
Notes
Use any type of pasta you want.
You can make a double batch and keep it refrigerated for a week.