I have a new nighttime routine: Crawl into bed, snuggle up to Rookie and view videos on Bon Appétit’s YouTube channel. The entire Test Kitchen team is entertaining, and I always discover a trick or find culinary inspiration.
Case in point: I recently watched Molly make mushroom carbonara in a matter of minutes. Her recipe was right up my alley, and so I later searched for it online. The entrée appeared, but then another of Molly’s creations caught my eye: roasted cauliflower carbonara.
As you can probably guess, I prepared the latter – and am so glad I did. Roasted cauliflower carbonara is rich, creamy and packed with flavor. It’s a dish I could eat on repeat forever.
While you can use any short pasta, medium shells are the perfect vessels for the roasted cauliflower and bacon bits. Orecchiette would work well, too. Any shape you choose, I guarantee it’ll be good.
Recipe adapted from Epicurious.
- 1 head cauliflower, cut into ¾" pieces
- ¼ cup + 3½ teaspoons olive oil, divided
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, divided
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 6 ounces bacon, diced
- 3 egg yolks
- ⅔ cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving
- 8 ounces medium shells or other short pasta
- 5 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place cauliflower on a baking sheet. Drizzle with ¼ cup olive oil, season with salt and ½ teaspoon pepper, and toss to coat. Bake for 15 minutes, remove from the oven and stir gently. Bake for another 15 minutes or until cauliflower is caramelized and fork tender. Remove from the oven, add garlic and stir gently.
- In a large fry pan, cook bacon on medium heat until fat renders and bacon crisps, 8-10 minutes. Remove bacon from pan and set aside on paper towels to drain. Transfer 2 teaspoons of fat from pan to a large bowl.
- Add egg yolks, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, and remaining 3½ teaspoons olive oil and 1½ teaspoons pepper to bowl and stir to combine.
- Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta until al dente according to package directions. Drain, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid.
- Add ⅓ cup reserved cooking liquid to bowl with egg yolk and cheese mixture and stir vigorously until combined.
- Add cooked pasta and stir to combine. If necessary, add additional cooking liquid to loosen the sauce.
- Add cooked cauliflower and bacon and parsley and stir combine. Garnish with additional Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and serve immediately.
