I made this luscious cauliflower sauce with blue cheese and guanciale, not bacon. I figured most of you out here would use bacon, but both work just as well. The cauliflower part of the sauce is quite revolutionary and a real game-changer. You really HAVE to check this out.

pappardelle with creamy cauliflwer, blue cheese and bacon

I first saw the idea on Pinch of Yum a while ago and sent the link to a foodie friend whose response was – ‘I make something like that all the time’. Just wow, and why wasn’t I kept in that loop?

I love making pasta sauce from ingredients other than the ubiquitous tomato or cream, and in my cookbook one of my favourite pasta recipes is made from a sauce of roasted butternut, Mascarpone cheese, and thyme, with mushrooms and crispy bacon. Just delicious, so I’m totally in the zone when it comes to this.

I have also known for a while that cauliflower has hidden powers and can easily masquerade as a carb. I regularly turn it into a ‘cous cous’ which compliments a plethora of dishes from vegetarian to meat. What I didn’t know is that it could be transformed into something quite as creamy and silky as a sauce without any actual cream.

I started out making my version of the sauce by adding bay leaves and a pinch of nutmeg, and then after pureeing it, I added blue cheese and fried chopped-up guanciale to complete the dish. Staggeringly tasty.

I also cooked it in skim milk, not water which I think adds to the overall unctuousness of the sauce.

As for guanciale, it’s the classic ingredient in pasta Carbonara and the best, or the only place you can buy the real deal in South Africa is from Richard Bosman.

Guanciale – pronounced gwun-chu-lay (and if you try saying it out loud you really should muster up an Italian accent to do so), is unsmoked Italian bacon made from the pig’s cheek. The cheek is rubbed with salt, spices and herbs and cured for a number of weeks. It has a stronger flavour than bacon and to prepare it, you slice it away from the fat and pan fry – with some of the fat, until crispy. Doesn’t this just sound like to heaven to you?

pappardelle with a creamy cauliflower, blue cheese and bacon sauce

*cooks notes ~ I sliced the stem of the cauliflower and used this in the sauce too as there is no need to waste. Use as much or as little bacon/guanciale as you like – preferably with a little fat in the mix, so streaky bacon if you are using that, and I recommend a creamy blue cheese, like a Gorgonzola. I have made the sauce with garlic and without, and it really is equally as nice. The nutmeg and bay leaves are also totally optional. I prefer to use freshly ground white pepper to black, as I find the more mellow flavour better suited to this sauce, and I love to add just a small pinch of chilli.

Toss the sauce through the pasta and mix in the crispy bacon.

Absolutely fabulous paired with a nice Chardonnay.

Here are a few of my other favourite recipes with cauliflower, and yes, I am very much in love with this humble cruciferous vegetable.:

Cauliflower ‘couscous’

Roasted cauliflower with curry, cumin and dukkah

Roasted cauliflower salad with anchovies, olives and capers

Prep Time:15

Cook Time:30

Ingredients

300 g pappardelle or any long noodle pasta of your choice
1 medium head of cauliflower cut into florets (about 580 – 650g)
500 ml milk I used skim
1 – 2 garlic cloves thinly sliced (optional)
2 bay leaves
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of dried chilli flakes optional
30 g blue cheese or however much you like
1/4 cup of guanciale thinly sliced (about 1 cheek)
salt and white pepper

Instructions

Bring the milk to a boil in a medium pot and add the garlic, nutmeg, bay leaves and cauliflower. Cook until the cauliflower is soft – about 20 – 35 minutes. You really want to almost ‘overcook’ it.
While the cauliflower is cooking, cook your pasta until it’s al dente and fry your bacon/guanciale. Melt some of the fatty bits of the bacon and then fry the bacon bits until crispy. Drain and set aside.
When done, remove the bay leaves and process with a hand blender until it is smooth and creamy. I found these ratios delivered the perfect thickness of the sauce, but you could add more or less of the cooking liquid to thin down or thicken your sauce. Put the pureed sauce back on the heat and crumble in the blue cheese, allowing this to melt in. Adjust the seasoning according to your taste.
Toss the sauce through the pasta and mix in the crispy bacon.

Notes

Tha sauce can be made in advance and reheated before adding the freshly cooked pasta

Servings: 2

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26 Comments

I’m going to have to get my hands on some guanciale now – I keep hearing about how wonderfully delicious it is! And this cauliflower sauce sounds delicious too. Gorgeous.

Looks lovely! I really don’t have a taste for blue cheese, what could you suggest as a substitute?
Many thanks!

Love the sauce! The possibilities with it are endless.

I love the sound of that cauliflower sauce, especially with bay leaves and nutmeg. Wonderful flavors!

Decadence. Dreamy. Drooling 😀

This looks like exactly what I need after a long day! Such comfort food! 🙂

This is 100% awesome. I can’t wait to give this cauliflower sauce a try.

Jamie, you will LOVE it, and such a great base to play around with other flavours. I used some of it in a cream porcini mushroom and venison pasta dish with pesto and it was delicious. Basically it replaces the cream.

Hi Kiran, apart from the bacon and blue cheese, not tooo decadent 😉

Hi Hein, yes exactly. I used some of it in a creamy porcini mushroom and Springbok fillet (from the Karoo farmer) pasta dish with pesto and it was delicious. Basically it replaces the cream and can be added to other sauces.

Hi Tara, any strong hard cheese would be nice. What about an aged Cheddar or a Gruyere?

Sarah, the flavour of gianciale is a little more intense than normal bacon and slightly less salty. You dont need as much. Its pretty special.

Holey Moley! Helloooo dinner.

Robyn, I think this one is just for you and speaks to your vegan side 🙂

Wow, this looks really good as well. I did a modernist mac and cheese a little while back with some pureed cauliflower. It pairs so well with cheese.

Love the idea of this in a Mac n Cheese, I’m so doing that next.

I have made cauliflower soup and blue cheese before (similar method, but I started with sauteeing an onion and then adding the caulifower before adding the milk). Was wonderful, but then, I like strong flavours and absolutely love blue cheese. I didn’t add any pork, because I don’t eat meat or poultry. Perhaps substitute with a few dried mushrooms to add another dimension of flavour?

Hi maria, mushrooms would be lovely with this and even green vegetables like peas or zucchini.

Hi Sam. The weight measurement for the pasta – is that the dried weight or cooked weight? Also, I can’t seem to find a “print” icon on the recipe page on your website. Am I just not seeing it or isn’t there one? Thanks. Kim

Hi Kim, yes the weight would be a dry weight. Perhaps I haven’t converted this recipe over to my print app. Sorry, I have around 500 recipes so have not converted hem al, simply haven’t had the time, new ones all go on.