Two-Cheese Pasta with Cauliflower (Fast & Slow)
A recipe our editorial director J.M. Hirsch learned while eating his way across Naples, Italy. He loves the way the vegetable turns creamy, blurring the line between the cheese sauce and the tender pasta.
- Makes4 servings
- Cook Time35 minutes
- Active time plus cooling25 minutes active
- 1
In this dish from Naples, Italy, the cauliflower and pasta are given equal importance, and there’s just enough cheese to balance the vegetable’s natural sweetness. We use a combination of savory pecorino Romano cheese and aged provolone (also called provolone picante, or sharp provolone). If you can't find aged provolone, regular provolone is an acceptable, though milder-tasting, substitute. A short, twisty pasta shape combines well with the cauliflower and stands up nicely to pressure cooking; we especially liked gemelli and fusilli.
Don't forget to dry the cauliflower; the drier it is, the less splattering it will cause in the hot oil.
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