Recipe

Baked Pasta with Cauliflower and Chard

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Photo by Cordelia

This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Baked Pasta
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Cordelia's Notes: I don't think cauliflower is appreciated enough. This is a great way to do so. You can consider this as a more substantial cauliflower gratin with pasta or grown-up mac and cheese. I think...
I don't think cauliflower is appreciated enough. This is a great way to do so. You can consider this as a more substantial cauliflower gratin with pasta or grown-up mac and cheese. I think it is a great way to balance the richness of the cream and cheese with healthy and tasty vegetables (and a way to convince somebody to eat some). You can replace or add broccoli or substitute chard with spinach. Also, you can try with blue cheese for more rich taste, though if you use sharp cheese you might want to reduce the amount a bit.

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Serves 4-6

3/4 package of short tube like pasta Ask a question about this ingredient

1 medium cauliflower broken to florets Ask a question about this ingredient

1 bunch of chard (6-7 big leaves) Ask a question about this ingredient

1/2 onion sliced thinly Ask a question about this ingredient

3 cloves of garlic minced Ask a question about this ingredient

1 cup of heavy cream Ask a question about this ingredient

3 eggs Ask a question about this ingredient

1.5 cups of grated gruyere cheese Ask a question about this ingredient

1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground nut meg Ask a question about this ingredient

1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper Ask a question about this ingredient

2 tablespoons of olive oil Ask a question about this ingredient

2 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese Ask a question about this ingredient

Salt and pepper Ask a question about this ingredient

Warm the oven to 360 F.
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Cook the cauliflower in boiling water for 7-10 minutes. In the same water cook the pasta just shy of al dente.
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In the meantime put 2 tablespoons in skillet and sauté the onions with a bit of salt for 5 minutes or so. Wash the chard, discard the white stems and tear to medium pieces. Add to the skillet and sauté until wilted. Add the garlic, nut meg and some pepper. Sauté for 1 minute or so and take off the stove.
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In a bowl mix the cream, eggs, cauliflower, pasta, chard mixture, teaspoon of salt and cayenne pepper. Finally add the gruyere and mix again.
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Pour to a baking dish and scatter the parmesan cheese on top. Bake for 40 minutes until golden brown on top.
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4 Comments on Baked Pasta with Cauliflower and Chard

bottomupfood added about 1 year ago

We were so excited about this recipe...but in the end, it was a bit bland. If we made it again we would use 2x or 3x the chard and figure out what more interesting spices we could use.

HilaryGar added over 2 years ago

Made a double serving of this recipe and I had one small and one medium cauliflower and one bunch of kale. I would put in at least one other head of cauliflower and a bunch of kale as it didn't seem to be enough veggies. I used a mixture of mozzarella and cheddar for the cheese as I didn't have any gruyere and it was great. The recipe was just great. I would definitely double up on the kale though- my kids LOVED it, but then they like onions too. Great recipe!