This Baked Rigatoni with Roasted Cauliflower, in a Pink Spicy Sauce turned out more delicious than I anticipated. The easy to make creamy tomato sauce and Fontina cheese has heartiness with chunks of cauliflower. For a meatless meal, this one of very comforting!
If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, I tend to post step-by-step photos on how to recreate the recipe. I didn’t really intend to blog this recipe, because I was tired (and hungry). It was dark outside, and I didn’t want to set up a light stand in order to photograph. The recipe turned out to be very easy to make, and by the time I took the dish of baked pasta out of the oven– and I took a taste– I knew I had to share this.
I subscribe to Fine Cooking Magazine, and I signed up for their “Make It Tonight” newsletter. The star of the show is the “pink sauce”. You need canned tomatoes (I used San Marzano), onion, garlic, fresh parsley and red pepper flakes. I pureed the tomatoes in my food processor in no time at all.
Once you saute’ onion, garlic & red pepper flakes, you add the pureed tomatoes and 1/2 cup of heavy cream– and that’ s not a lot of cream, considering this recipe makes 8-10 servings. (Next time, I’ll cut the recipe in half).
The original recipe cooks the cauliflower in the pasta water. Roasted veggies are my favorite way to prepare them as a side dish. So, I drizzled olive oil on cauliflower florets and roasted them (on a baking sheet) , to al dente, for about 15-20 minutes. If you hate cauliflower, no worries! Just use broccoli, or squash– or use sausage, if you wish. You can’t go wrong, because the sauce is full of flavor and is so simple to make! I cleaned out my fridge by using a Quattro-Formagio (four-cheese) package from Trader Joe’s and a small wedge of Fontina cheese (which I grated, of course) You can use whatever cheeses you like, but I’d stick to a white cheese. Some freshly grated Parmigiano- Reggiano completed the topping.
TASTING NOTES: We enjoy vegetarian dinners, and I loved the “crunch” and texture of the cauliflower. I doubled the amount of fresh garlic, and it was perfect. I didn’t find the sauce to have a lot of spicy heat, so don’t be afraid to kick it up if you prefer. The next day, this pasta reheated well as leftovers. The pink sauce is a keeper! From start to finish, this dinner was on the table in about 45 minutes. I hope you give this simple dinner a try. I’m sure glad that I did.
Baked Rigatoni with Roasted Cauliflower in a Spicy Pink Sauce
Ingredients
- 3 Tbs. olive oil
- 2 28-oz. cans whole tomatoes
- 1 large yellow onion halved and thinly sliced
- 1-1/4 tsp. kosher salt
- 2 cloves garlic minced (I used 4 cloves and thought it was perfect)
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 lb. rigatoni
- 1 lb. 1- to 1-1/2-inch cauliflower florets about 4 cups
- olive oil
- 10 oz. shredded Fontina about 2-1/2 cups (I used 2 cups of shredded Four-Cheese blend from Trader Joe’s and 1/2 cup of Fontina)
- 2 oz. freshly grated Parmigiano- Reggiano about 3/4 cup
Instructions
- Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 425°F. Bring a pot of well-salted water to boil in a large pot . Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish with 1 Tbs. olive oil (I sprayed olive oil, which is less than 1 tablespoon).
For the roasted cauliflower
- Spread the cauliflower on a baking pan and drizzle with olive oil. I like to mix it around, with my hands, to coat the cauliflower. Roast until "al dente" and just slightly golden around the edges– 15-20 minutes.
For the sauce:
- Pour off 1 cup of juice from one of the cans of tomatoes and discard it. In a blender or food processor, purée both cans of tomatoes with their remaining juice and set aside.
- Heat the remaining 2 Tbs. olive oil in a 6- to 8-qt. Dutch oven or heavy-based pot over medium-high heat. When the oil is shimmering, about 1 minute, add the onions and 1/4 tsp. of the salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until nicely browned, 5 to 10 minutes. Push the onions to the side of the Dutch oven with a wooden spoon and add the garlic. Add the red pepper flakes, and cook until it just starts to sizzle and becomes fragrant, about 10 seconds.
- Add the puréed tomatoes and cream (be careful; it will splatter), plus the remaining 1 tsp. salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce to a gentle simmer, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, so that the sauce thickens slightly. Add the parsley , and cook until the flavors are melded, about 5 minutes more. Taste for salt and pepper and remove from the heat.
- Meanwhile, when the salted water comes to a boil, cook the rigatoni until it’s al dente, about 10 minutes. Drain the pasta and add the pasta to the sauce. Add the cauliflower and combine.
- Add half of the shredded cheeses to the pasta and cauliflower mixture and toss well. Transfer to the prepared baking dish and spread evenly. Top the pasta with the remaining cheeses and then the Parmigiano-Reggiano.
- Bake uncovered until the cheese is golden brown, about 15 minutes. Let the pasta rest for 10 minutes before serving.
- NOTE: The leftovers reheat very well.
Notes
Nutrition
I love working with Emily. She recently did a couple of tweaks on my blog as well, Love the new look Debbie.As for the pasta. I just love comfort food this time of year.
Great idea to roast the cauliflower Debby. This looks perfect for a rainy cold day or anytime you want a rich comforting meal.
Sam
Debby, the blog looks so great. Beautiful looking pasta. I have cut the harshness out of red sauce before by adding a little cream or half n half. I like the cauliflower idea. Must try. Thanks. Susan
Funny you should post this right after I did a pasta recipe with boiled cauliflower. It's interesting to cook veggies in the same water as the pasta, but like you, I do prefer it roasted.
Looks so tasty!
First of all, the new site looks AWESOME!! I'm loving it. It's rare to find a good web designer for blogger but this is really great.
This pasta is totally my kind of meal! I'll definitely be making this soon!
This dish looks delicious, Debby. I love the addition of cauliflower for flavor and the way it cuts back on the calorie content. My daughter recently pureed cauli and added it to mashed potatoes and I thought it was very tasty.
I love meatless pasta and love cauliflower, so this is right up my alley. Hubby has to have some meat with his dinner, so when I do make meatless, I cook a piece of sausage or something for his plate.
Looks delicious to me. So does your blog!
I love cauliflower and pasta dishes…baked with this pink sauce sounds great. Prefect for our cold weather right now. Your new design is great.
Hi Debby! This is my first visit to your site, so I missed to see your old blog design. But I really like the new look! Very pretty and nice! I love cauliflower a lot, but never put it in my pasta. This is something I want to cook during the weekday. Looks really delicious!
This dish looks very delicious!I love veggies and I love the idea of the roasted cauliflower. Will try out to make some one of these days. Thanks for the share!!!
I made this over the weekend, and it was very tasty! Thanks! That’s the best way to prepare cauliflower I’ve tasted so far I thought about this . It’s a keeper.
My mom makes several recipes with Cauliflower at home. Mom generally prepare vegetable curry throw cauliflower. But I have learn something new from your post. I will tell my mom to try
this. Hope my mom will be able to prepare the recipe as mention above. Thank you for the recipe. Hope to see new recipes more here.