By Martha Rose Shulman
- Total Time
- About 30 minutes
- Rating
- 4(636)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Pasta with cauliflower comes in many variations throughout Italy. This one is all about texture -- crunchy almonds, tender (but not mushy) cauliflower and plush chickpeas. The original version of this recipe called for quinoa spaghetti (and if you're into that, go for it!), but we've found it's just as tasty with the traditional sort as well.
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Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- 24raw almonds (about 3 tablespoons), blanched, skinned* and chopped
- 1small or ½ large head cauliflower, broken into florets
- 2tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2garlic cloves, minced
- 1-14½-ounce can chopped tomatoes in juice
- ¼teaspoon sugar
- Pinch of cinnamon
- Salt to taste
- ½ to 1teaspoon dried oregano (to taste)
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
- ½cup cooked chickpeas (canned or freshly cooked)
- ¾pound spaghetti
- Crumbled feta or freshly grated Parmesan for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
518 calories; 13 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 7 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 84 grams carbohydrates; 10 grams dietary fiber; 9 grams sugars; 20 grams protein; 922 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
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Fill a large pasta pot with water and bring to a boil. Add salt to taste and cauliflower. Boil 5 minutes, then using a Chinese skimmer, a strainer or a slotted spoon, transfer cauliflower to a bowl of cold water (do not drain the pot; you’ll use the water for the pasta). Drain the cauliflower and chop medium-fine. Set aside.
Step
2
(You can do this step while you are waiting for the water to come to a boil for the cauliflower). Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy skillet or a wide saucepan and add garlic. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds, and stir in tomatoes with liquid, sugar, cinnamon, salt and oregano. Turn up heat to medium-high and stir often as tomatoes come to a brisk boil. Turn heat down to medium and cook, stirring often, until tomatoes have cooked down and taste very fragrant, about 10 minutes. Add pepper to taste.
Step
3
Add cauliflower and almonds to the tomato sauce, along with ¼ cup cooking water from the cauliflower, and stir together. Stir in chickpeas.
Step
4
Bring water in the pot back to a boil and add spaghetti. Cook al dente, following timing instructions on the package but checking for doneness a minute before indicated time on the package. Set aside ½ cup of the cooking water from the pasta, in case you want to moisten the sauce more, drain pasta and toss with the tomato and cauliflower sauce and the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Add water from pasta only if you think the mixture seems dry. Serve, passing crumbled feta or grated Parmesan at the table for sprinkling.
Tips
- To blanch and skin almonds, bring a small pot of water to a boil and drop in almonds. Boil 30 seconds and transfer to a bowl of cold water. Drain and slip off skins, then chop.
- Advance preparation: The cauliflower and tomato sauce can be prepared through Step 3 up to 3 days ahead.
Ratings
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out of 5
636
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Cooking Notes
Margaux Laskey, Staff Editor
This is a really good, satisfying vegetarian pasta. I used mezzi rigatoni b/c that's what I had on hand, and I added about 5 canned anchovies to the pan with the garlic and cooked until they dissolved before adding the tomatoes. They added a lovely, complex layer of flavor. I also roasted the cauliflower instead of blanching it.
mabnyc
Delicious, but next time we make it, we will double the tomatoes. Needed more sauce INMHO.
Ben
Tasted great and will definitely make again, though I didn't like the ratio of pasta to other ingredients. I will probably go down to a half pound of pasta and/or increase the amount of tomato next time.
Exquisite Twist to Spaghetti
According to my daughter, I "made the best spaghetti ever." The compliment of cinnamon reminds you of a sweet baked cinnamon roll as soon as it hits your nostrils, but then you take that first bite and you're quickly reminded that you haven't just made a batch of cinnamon rolls, but instead; a crunchy, flavorful batch of spaghetti! Who would've thought to add cinnamon or almonds! Our family adored the recipe-I used thick spaghetti, mashed the garbanzos a bit and added a wee bit of chili flakes.
Valerie
I really appreciate the vegetarian recipes. Please keep them coming!
Colleen
Very tasty but not tomato-y enough got my taste. I added a half jar of marinara sauce to make up the difference. Good flavors. Will make this again and double up on the tomatoes.
MSL - NY
I didn't have blanched almonds and feel like skinning my almonds, so I just used them skin and all. It tasted very good and I would not bother to skin the almonds in the future.
MS
Made this last night with 5 grain spaghettini, which I believe made it way more filling than regular pasta. I doubled the garlic, added more chopped tomatoes (but not more tomato juice).A squeeze of lemon juice and dash of red chile flakes when serving really brought out the flavours. The whole family loved it (little one did skip on the chile).
Leslie
Forgive me nonna, for I have sinned:- stirred in a heaping TBSP of white miso paste just after the tomatoes- used a 1.5-inch cinnamon stick in sauce, removed before adding cauliflower- used a whole box of pasta, no issues with sauce-pasta ratio- cooked pasta a min shy of done and finished it in the simmering sauce - skipped the cauliflower water, just used 1 cup reserved pasta water along with .5 cup grated parmesan at the very end, stirred til silky5 stars with these changes.
Ellen
As others have noted, it is worth doubling or tripling the sauce. Adding a fair amount of pasta water helped increase the volume of sauce. I made more work for myself by separately roasting the almonds, the chickpeas, and the cauliflower. (Just because I like all of these things roasted.) It added a little more depth and texture I think.
jk
Don’t double chickpeas. More cauliflower.
BR
Feel like I made a different dish from all the commenters. Was flavorless to me and not worthwhile.
Deb Taylor
I substituted pine nuts (3tbs) toasted and roughly chopped for the almonds because I had them in stock and added a good bit of red pepper flakes and about 1/2 cup of homemade tomato sauce and topped with fresh chopped basil from the garden. Delicious!
Paul
Make more sauce
Camille
I took another commenter’s advice and halved the pasta but kept everything else, just because I wanted a high amount of the veg and chickpeas and everything. SO shockingly good! Would also have been good with the ratios all the same
Maria in Minneapolis
Like many others, I like a much more vegetable-y ratio of pasta to sauce. I completely doubled the recipe, and reduced the pasta (whole wheat penne) to 8oz. Otherwise, I really cooked it as is, other than having a heavy hand on the oregano, and found it really flavorful, with a Greek angle. Home-poked garbanzos. I did toast the almonds, too—for extra crunch as well as the fantastic flavor of toasted almonds—and they were a brilliant touch in this. I grated 2 oz pecorino, the perfect amount.
Lisa J
Great recipe! I used gemelli pasta. Added a cup of marinara. A generous pinch of nutmeg, too which worked well. Slivered almonds, if you can find them, complemented the textures nicely. Will definitely make again!
S
This is ok, not a repeater / not quite worth the trouble and all the dishes. Overall take away is that it's missing something. Maybe some acidity, a squeeze of lemon, more salt, red pepper? maybe even some kale or something.
Juker
This will not go in the rotation. I followed the instructions as close to the recipe as possible, only using more almonds. The texture is nice but the taste nothing special and the sauce is not adapted to spaghetti, more to short pasta with a larger surface.
Caroline Edge
I made homemade spaghetti with half whole wheat flour, half 00 flour. I substituted pine nuts as my partner is allergic to almonds. I liked that the sauce was not very tomato.
Pen M.
Used cashews& whole can of garbanzo beans, fried w garlic.
Denise
Roast cauliflower, anchovies
Donna A.
Doubled tomatoes, halved spaghetti. Roasted cauliflower and chick peas at 425 for 20 minutes. Was generous with spices. Great result! A keeper.
Andrew
Following the recommendations of others I doubled the sauce which I subsequently regretted. The tomato sauce overwhelmed the more delicate flavors of the almonds and cauliflower and what was left was a totally satisfy, but unremarkable, spaghetti with tomato sauce. I think next time I will keep the original proportions.
next time
More tomato sauce
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