Pasta With Roasted Cauliflower and Blue Cheese
(Serves 3-4)
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower, cut into 2cm florets
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, more as needed
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 large or 2 small leeks, halved and thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon thyme leaves, more for serving
- 230g short pasta such as campanelle, orecchiette, conchiglie, farfalle or fusilli
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature
- 170 Gorgonzola dolce, crumbled, at room temperature
- Fresh lemon juice, to taste
- 2 tablespoons chopped chives, for serving
Method
- Heat oven to 220 degrees. In a large bowl, toss cauliflower with olive oil, salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
- Spread onto a rimmed baking sheet in an even layer, and bake for 20 minutes.
- Add leeks, garlic and thyme to the cauliflower on the sheet pan, then roast another 20 minutes, tossing the vegetables halfway through, until they are very tender and deeply caramelized.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Cook pasta until it is 1 minute shy of being al dente. (It will continue to cook in the residual heat of the pot.)
- Scoop out about 1 cup pasta water (a coffee mug is good for this), then drain pasta.
- Return the pasta to the empty pot, along with butter, Gorgonzola, remaining 3/4 teaspoon pepper and 1/2 cup pasta water, stirring to melt cheese.
- Toss roasted vegetables into pasta, then stir in lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.
- Add more pasta water if mixture looks dry.
- To serve, spoon into bowls and top with chives and sprinkle of thyme leaves.