Roasted Cauliflower Pasta: 3 Ingredient Recipe #2

3 Ingredient Recipe: Roast Cauliflower Pasta w/Goat Cheese

Day two of my challenge got some help from a post from TheKitchn.com .  I subscribe to the site's newsletter and yesterday as I hashed over ideas for getting more flavor out of 3 ingredients, I received their email with piece called How To Roast Any Vegetable .  As I was planning on making a dish today that I knew would have cauliflower in it, this was perfect.

This recipe for a simple pasta dish gives you a chance to take notice of individual textures and find nuances in a common vegetable normally found pan fried, boiled or muted in sauces or breadings.  Here the roasted cauliflower is crisp, bright and smoky.  Tangy goat cheese is sauteed to create a caramelized crust and oozing rich center.

For a refresher on the rules of my 10 day, 3 ingredient challenge, check out the first post.

3 things to get...

1. 1 head of cauliflower - chopped
2. 4 cups of bow tie pasta (or similar)
3. 8 ounces of goat cheese (tube shape preferred)

What to do with it...

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees
  
• Toss cauliflower in olive oil to coat, paying special attention to coat the floret tops so they brown evenly
  
• Place cauliflower into a roasting pan and roast for 20 minutes, checking occasionally and shaking/turning to get even browning
  
• Cut half the goat cheese into 1/4 rounds and set aside
  
• Prepare pasta according to instructions and drain, place in large bowl
  
• Toss hot pasta with the uncut half of your cheese and 2 tablespoons olive oil and set aside, covered
  
• Heat enough olive oil to a skillet to coat bottom evenly
  
• Add your 1/4 cheese rounds and saute on medium heat for 1-2 minutes until brown, watching carefully
  
• Carefully flip rounds with a metal spatula (cheese may cling to rubber/wood) and saute another 1-2 minutes, then transfer to paper towels to absorb excess oil
  
• Remove your roasted cauliflower from the oven and add to pasta along with salt and pepper to taste
  
• Serve immediately in individual bowls topped with sauteed goat cheese rounds
  

2 down, 8 to go!

Fig, Jalapeno, and Goat Cheese Biscuits

Fresh fig season is coming to a close here in Chicago.  Yes, it might seem a little silly to refer to Chicago as having a "fig season", or anything season really.  We don't have orchards, vineyards or even cornfields really until you're miles out of the city center.  And yet, here are figs for a limited time only, shipped in from somewhere where they have such things.

This recipe is a great excuse to pick up a basket of the last of the Fall fruit.  I use black Mission figs since they're most common here, and they have a pretty deep purple color that goes well with the green jalapenos (why shouldn't food color coordinate?). 

Look for figs that are plump (love that word), and don't have a "dusty" look because that means mold.  They should smell sweet, or else they're not ripe yet.  The sweet gooey-ness of a good batch of these combined with tangy goat cheese and a little smoky bite from jalapenos...good stuff.