Baked Pasta Al Cavolfiore

Decadent baked pasta with cauliflower, tomatoes, and cheese sauce

Ingredients

Ingredients

Cheese sauce:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 quart milk, warm
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tbsp dijon or other fancy mustard
• 1 tsp salt or more to taste
• 1 tsp black pepper or more to taste
• 2 cups shredded parmesan cheese (the good stuff NOT the powder)

Vegetables and Pasta:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cups chopped onions
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp white wine
• 1 medium head cauliflower, cut into florets
• 1 tsp salt or more to taste
• 3 cups chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 cup fresh basil (or more if you have it)
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 pound chunky pasta (penne is the easy choice)
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions

1. Cheese sauce: melt butter in a heavy saucepan on medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook, stirring constantly, for a couple minutes. Stir in warmed milk, whisking constantly for some time until sauce thickens. Stir in rest of the sauce ingredients and remove from heat. Set aside.
2. Cook pasta according to package ingredients. Set aside, after draining in pot. Keep it in the pot; that will be used to mix things at the end.
3. In a large pot on medium heat, add onions, garlic and cook covered, stirring often, until the onions are translucent. Add wine, cauliflower, and salt, cover and cook, stirring often, until cauliflower is tender. Stir in tomatoes, basil, and lemon juice and remove from heat.
4. Preheat oven to 375 F. Oil a 13x9x2 in. pan (or deeper pan).
5. In large pasta pot, combine everything except only half of mozzarella. Add salt and pepper to taste. Put this in pan and then top with rest of mozzarella.
6. Bake, covered, for 20 minutes.
7. Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes, until bubbling and golden on top.