Cauliflower Ragu with Fusilli and Parmesan

I have mixed feelings about Six Seasons. It's won a ton of awards and people rave about how original and unique (yet approachable) Joshua's recipes are. However, I've made my planned three recipes from Six Seasons and none of them were 100% successful. Each one required some tinkering and adaptation before I (or anyone else) was happy with the dish. I feel like Joshua's recipes provide intriguing starting points, but I wouldn't feel confident recommending his cookbook to someone who doesn't like to experiment a little as they cook.

I've made the cauliflower ragu about 4-5 times now, and I'm pretty confident that you'll like this version better than the original, even if it does require an extra step of blending the cauliflower ragu before adding the pasta.

The first time I made this dish, I hit a few snags. First, I erroneously assumed the amount of pasta called for corresponded to a whole box, so my pasta to cauliflower ratio was off (I used 1.3x the specified amount).

I was cooking in someone else's kitchen, and realized once I'd started that there was no fresh rosemary and no white wine, so I substituted 1 teaspoon dried rosemary and a splash of red wine. Even worse, I didn't have enough Parmesan cheese; I only had half the proscribed amount because I'd planned on cooking for only 4 and it turned out I was cooking for 8. All in all, I didn't really do the written recipe justice that first time. I did notice one needful modification though: the lemon juice, butter, and Parmesan should be added to the cooked cauliflower before the past is added, not after. Added after the pasta, the cheese clumped together and was difficult to distribute throughout the pasta dish. Beyond the addition order, visually the dish was very one-dimensional and unappealingly beige. It begged for some greenery in the form of shredded zucchini or peas to help make it more appetizing.

Happily, people tend to acquiesce when I ask to come over and cook dinner in exchange for their opinion(s). My parents were my second group of guinea pigs, and this time around I used chicken stock in place of water to give the sauce more body, fresh rosemary, and white wine.

Adding the Parmesan, lemon juice, and butter (plus a little pasta cooking water) before adding the pasta yielded a much nicer sauce.

However, we determined the amount of cauliflower should be doubled and I forgot to add the grated zucchini at the end. My parents also recommended more red pepper flakes and some minced red onion in the ragu to add to the color diversity.

For the third edition, I invited some friends over and served them the greened-up version of this ragu. Unfortunately for the ragu, I started them with the puff pastry potato pizza from Malibu Farm and the savory monkey bread from Bread Toast Crumbs. After those intensely cheesy, super delicious appetizers, Beñat wanted to know why I was forcing them to eat vegetables. I also used the Trader Joe's seasonal pumpkin-shaped pasta bells, which I'd never tried before and were sadly tasteless and weirdly firm, so that didn't help anyone's opinion of the ragu (although Cris was excited about all the healthy vegetables.

That could have been the final version, but I decided to forge ahead with Joshua's recipe as my base. We had Ean over for dinner and I made this ragu, except I blended the sauce before adding the lemon juice, butter, and Parmesan. I added a cup of frozen petite peas, some sautéed mushrooms, and pan-fried Italian sausage from our local butcher to the pasta+sauce. The result was an ultra creamy sauce that coated the pasta noodles perfectly, with tons of flavor and visual interest from the extra mix-ins. Caleb and Ean voted this "fantastic" and I've made it subsequently for just Caleb and I and we continue to be big fans. The modified ragu is a super versatile sauce that dirties on extra appliance (the blender) but doesn't require cooking the cauliflower in two separate batches or fretting about your cheese distribution.

This picture really doesn't do the cauliflower ragu justice. It's not the most stunning sauce you're ever going to see, but it's jam-packed with flavor, it isn't tomato-based, it's super easy to make, doesn't require during on the oven, and stores well in the fridge for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to a month. If you aren't really a pasta fan, you could easily enjoy this sauce with bread of any variety or over potatoes/lentils/brown rice with some fish or chicken or sauteed vegetables. I even stirred a can of yellowfin tuna (packed in olive oil, minimally drained) into the sauce at the end and served this as a much healthier version of tuna noodle casserole, with an egg (fried) on top and and a little parsley.

Adapted from Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables

Cauliflower Ragu

A lusciously cream sauce (made without cream, but some butter and a hefty dose of Parmesan cheese), meant to be served over your choice of carb (fresh pasta, rice) and/or protein!

Keys for success - don't go too crazy on the salt in the cauliflower sauce, since you'll be adding salted pasta water, pasta that has some salt in the dough, etc. to the finished product. Also, make sure you like the wine you add - it's taste will show through.

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 2 large heads cauliflower or Romanesco about 3 pounds (whole)
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves smashed and peeled
• ¾-1 teaspoon dried chile flakes
• 1 medium yellow onion diced
• 1 ½ cups chicken broth or water
• ½ cup dry un-oaked white wine or more chicken broth
• 1 big sprig rosemary or ½-1 teaspoon dried
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 10-12 grinds freshly cracked pepper
• 12 ounces fusilli or other spiral- or tube-shaped pasta
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• 1 ½ cup (8 ounces) frozen peas not defrosted
• 1 cup (8 ounces before cooking) mushrooms assorted or cremini, sauteed separately
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Cauliflower Ragu

• If the cauliflower still has outer leaves and they look fresh, chop them. Cut the center stem from the cauliflower and cut the head into small florets. Chop the stem into small chunks.
• Heat ¼ cup olive oil, the garlic, and the chile flakes in a large deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
• Add the cauliflower florets, chopped stems, and onion to the Dutch oven. Pour in the wine and chicken broth (or water), the teaspoon salt, several generous twists of black pepper, and rosemary sprig. Stir ev­erything together, then cover the pan and adjust the heat so the mixture simmers nicely. Cook until the cauliflower is tender, about 30-40 minutes, stirring and smashing with a wooden spoon or spatula a few times as you cook.

Pasta

• Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and add enough salt so the water "tastes like the sea" (e.g., it's salty!).
• Once the cauliflower sauce is almost done, add the pasta to the pot of water and cook until 2 minutes shy of al dente (according to the package directions; the pasta will finish cooking in the ragu). With a ladle or a measuring cup, scoop out about 1 cup pasta cooking water and then drain the pasta well.

Assembly

• While the pasta is cooking, transfer the cooked cauliflower sauce to a blender (you will likely need to do this in 2-3 batches, depending on your blender jar) and blend until smooth.
• Return the blended sauce to the Dutch oven (no need to clean it out), stir in the lemon juice, butter, parmesan, frozen peas, and sauteed mushrooms (if using).
• Add the pasta to the ragu and fold everything together. Taste and adjust with more salt, lemon, black pepper, or cheese, and adjust the texture to make it creamy by adding a splash or two of the reserved pasta water. Serve right away.