Rigatoni with Cauliflower and Bacon

5 from 1 vote

Pan seared cauliflower, bacon, garlic and rigatoni create the ultimate hearty dinner.

Prep Time5

Cook Time25

Total Time30

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Servings:

Chop the cauliflower into florets. Finely chop a 1/4 cup fresh parsley. Rough chop 8 garlic cloves.
Cook pasta to 'al dente' in salted (2 Tbsp kosher salt per gallon) water.
Saute the pancetta in a large pan with 1 Tbsp of olive oil over medium-low heat until slightly crisp. After the pancetta crisps up (about 10-15 minutes) remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. In the same pan add the garlic and saute for 3 minutes in the drippings.
Add the cauliflower to the pan and coat well. Add 2 ounces of water, turn the heat to medium-high and cover. After 7 minutes remove lid, turn heat to medium and finish cooking the cauliflower to allow it to brown. Season the cauliflower with 1 tsp kosher salt and a 1/2 tsp of black pepper.
Reserve the pasta water before draining. Add 1 cup of the pasta water to the pan and cook for 2 minutes. Next add the pasta to the pan, along with the pancetta. Thoroughly mix together while cooking.
Taste test and adjust salt/pepper if required. Add the parsley, mix, then remove pan from the heat. If the pasta dries out, add a touch more of the reserved pasta water to loosen the consistency back up. Drizzle a 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil all over the rigatoni and serve. Enjoy!

Pancetta and bacon are interchangeable for this recipe. If using bacon it might take a little longer to crisp up.
Bacon and pancetta are quite salty. Only 1 tsp of kosher salt was used, adjust accordingly.
Reserve the pasta water. If the rigatoni dries out before serving, add the pasta water a couple of ounces at a time to bring the consistency back to perfect.