Roasted Cauliflower & Garlic Pasta with Lemon Tahini Sauce
Comfort food anyone? This rich pasta dish is just what the doctor ordered after a busy weekend with the farmers market and stormy weather. We’re feeling a bit run down and this bowl of goodness really hit the spot. What I love about this pasta is that it’s rich tasting without weighing you down. The roasted cauliflower, garlic and pasta are tossed in a lemon tahini sauce and topped with toasted walnuts and plenty of parsley. This dish comes together quickly and is a crowd pleaser for sure. This recipe should feed four people but Taylor and I ate the whole darn pot of pasta between just the two of us. Simple, delicious and perfect for these early days of October. I hope wherever this post finds you that you all are ready to cozy up to this next season of eating and I hope recipes like this find a place on your table.
Cheers to the harvest!
Roasted Cauliflower Pasta with Lemon Tahini Sauce
Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 30 minutes Serves: 4
Lemon Tahini Sauce- 1/4 cup tahini
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- pinch of cayenne pepper, optional
- One medium sized head of cauliflower, broken into small florets
- Six skin-on garlic cloves
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and pepper
- pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 pound of pasta (we used Farfalle but any kind will work)
- 1/4 cup walnuts
- 1/4 cup minced parsley
Preparation
- Prepare the lemon tahini sauce by combining all the ingredients in a bowl and whisking until completely smooth. This works best with an immersion blender or small food processor. Taste for seasonings and adjust as needed. You can always add a bit more tahini if the mixture is too thin or more water if the mixture is too thick.
- Preheat the oven to 425F. On a sheet pan toss the cauliflower and garlic with the olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes. Bake in the oven until the cauliflower is tender and beginning to brown all over, about 30 minutes. Toss halfway through cooking. When cool enough to handle peel the garlic cloves.
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta until al dente. Drain the pasta, reserving about 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid.
- While the pasta cooks toast your walnuts in a small dry skillet over medium high heat until golden brown and fragrant. About 3-5 minutes. Shake the pan a few times while toasting. When cool enough to handle roughly chop the walnuts.
- In a large bowl toss the pasta with the cauliflower and garlic. Drizzle with the tahini sauce and continue to toss until everything is evenly coated. If need be add a touch of the reserved cooking liquid if the pasta seems dry. Divide between bowls and top with the toasted walnuts and parsley.
Notes
*Use this recipe as a guide *Adjust measurements and ingredients as necessary *Cooking times will very from kitchen to kitchen
Andrea,
Thanks for the cauli/garlic pasta with lemon tahini sauce. Looks very yummy – so much so that I may try to 2x or 3x it and make it for my monthly local food bank contribution dish. Always print recipe for what I make and most of the “customers” seem to like that.
This is a gorgeous way to use my cauliflower from my CSA box this week, thank you!
Does anyone have thoughts on whether the tahini sauce should use roasted garlic instead?
As with all my recipes, make it your own and have fun! Roasted garlic sounds great but raw garlic in the dressing is actually quite nice. Let me know what you do and how it turns out. Happy cooking!
Just made this with whole grain noodles, my lunch for the next two days is set! Such a delicious way to make cauliflower
I made this last night with a few modifications (roasted the garlic instead of adding it to the sauce and added shallots to the roasting pan). The dish was a hit. I’m always looking for fun things to do with tahini. This is going to get made again and again. Very yummy topped with fried onions!
Delicious, and so easy. Next time I will do more roasted garlic. Also I doubled the parsley and walnuts. I used rice spiral pasta. Fabulous!
So happy to hear!