Roasted Cauliflower Pasta

Harvest season. The combines are in the fields, the grain trucks are on the roads, and I-80 is a parade of agriculture — semis hauling corn and soybeans, tractors crossing the highway at intersections, the particular patience required to drive behind a combine doing fifteen miles per hour on a county road because the combine has the right of way during harvest, always, because the harvest feeds everyone and everyone waits for the harvest.

I love harvest season the way I love everything about Nebraska that other people find tedious — the slowness, the repetition, the annual certainty that the corn will be cut and the beans will be combined and the trucks will haul and the cycle will repeat, because the cycle always repeats, and the repetition is not boredom, it is reliability, and reliability is the most underrated form of beauty.

Justin's football team is 3-0. He had an interception last Friday — read the receiver's eyes, broke on the ball, caught it, ran it back twenty yards. The crowd went quiet and then erupted, and Justin stood in the end zone holding the ball with the expression of a boy who has just caught something he has been reaching for his whole life. I did not cry. I do not cry at football games. I cried in the truck on the way home, which is where I do my crying, because the truck is private and crying is private and the privacy of both is non-negotiable.

I made beef stroganoff for dinner — egg noodles, ground beef, mushrooms, sour cream, beef broth. It is not a Nebraska recipe, it is a recipe I found in a cookbook at Goodwill in 2008, and it has become a family staple because the kids love it and the noodles are comforting and the sour cream makes it creamy and the whole thing takes thirty minutes and thirty minutes is what I have on a school night between getting home and needing to feed four children who are hungry in the specific way that children who have been doing things all day are hungry — desperately, immediately, and without patience.

Justin’s interception is going to live in my memory for a long time — the quiet, then the eruption, then the truck on the way home where I let myself feel it. Nights like that call for something warm and uncomplicated on the table, something the kids will eat without negotiation and that I can pull together in the window between walking in the door and everyone losing their minds from hunger. This roasted cauliflower pasta has become our version of that — it’s hearty and creamy and it fills up four children who have been doing things all day, which is exactly the job dinner needs to do on a night when the harvest is still going and the emotions are still running and everyone just needs to sit down and eat together.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 4–6

Ingredients

1 medium head cauliflower, cut into small florets (about 4 cups)
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, divided
12 oz pasta (rotini, penne, or rigatoni work well)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 cup reserved pasta water
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Instructions

Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 425°F. Toss the cauliflower florets with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Spread in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet.
Roast the cauliflower. Roast for 20–25 minutes, flipping once halfway through, until the florets are deeply golden and caramelized at the edges. Set aside.
Cook the pasta. While the cauliflower roasts, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. Before draining, scoop out 1/2 cup of pasta water. Drain and set aside.
Build the sauce. In the same pot over medium heat, warm the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, for about 1 minute until fragrant — do not let it brown.
Combine everything. Add the drained pasta to the pot along with the roasted cauliflower, Parmesan, lemon juice, remaining salt and pepper, and 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water. Toss well to coat, adding more pasta water a splash at a time until the sauce is glossy and clings to the pasta.
Finish and serve. Stir in the fresh parsley. Taste and adjust salt and lemon. Serve immediately topped with extra Parmesan.

Nutrition (per serving)

Roasted Cauliflower Pasta — The Noodle Dinner That Keeps This Family Running