Pasta Cauliflower Alfredo
This brain healthy version of Pasta Alfredo stars cauliflower — stem, florets, leaves and all. When steamed, cauliflower blends into a silky sauce with the help of cashews, truffle salt, and nutritional yeast. And another key ingredient: the cauliflower cooking water. It’s an even better tasting version of the old school butter-and cheese-laden recipe.
Cauliflower is a brain health superstar
Cauliflower is full of fiber so it fills you up without spiking blood sugar. It also provides a good dose of sulforaphane, a potent phytochemical that protects the brain from oxidative stress and inflammation. By replacing the saturated fats (like those in butter and cream) with a fiber rich vegetable, we create a dish with a brain friendly fat profile packed with nutrients.
The nutrients in the cooking water go back into the sauce
Steaming the cauliflower has dual purpose here. It creates tender florets that blend well into a creamy sauce. Even the stem becomes soft enough to puree so that none of the cauliflower goes to waste. And, because it uses less water than boiling, steaming captures more of cauliflower’s water soluble pigment anthoxanthin, a flavonol compound that has been linked to reduced stroke risk. This nutrient rich water goes back into the Cauliflower Alfredo sauce.
Cauliflower leaves are as nutritious as kale
Cauliflower’s sturdy leaves are not only edible — they are truly delicious and just as nutritious as kale. When braised until tender or roasted until crisp, their bitter assertiveness mellows out into a deeply flavorful green. In this dish, we keep the leaves attached to the cauliflower so that they steam at the same time. The tender leaves are then separated, cut into slivers, and added to the finished dish.
What is nutritional yeast?
Nutritional yeast comes from Saccharomyces cervisiae, a species of yeast used in baking. That may not sound like the most appetizing ingredient, but it has a nutty quality that adds a surprising depth of flavor to foods. And, even a small amount of nutritional yeast in the diet provides a boost of vitamins your brain needs to calm inflammation and enhance memory and mental clarity: selenium, B-6, B-3, B-12 and folic acid.
Can you use colorful cauliflower?
What about all those other brightly colored cauliflowers popping up at farmers markets and groceries stores? By all means, give them a try. Each uniquely colored variety offers its own array of phytonutrients found in the plant pigments. But if you plan to puree the cauliflower into a sauce, as in this dish, or crumble it into a couscous, stick with the white variety.
White cauliflower turns purple, orange, and green when exposed to direct sunlight. This creates beautiful, gem-colored spin-offs, but also shortens its shelf life. Choose colorful cauliflower when roasting florets, making cauliflower steaks, or serving whole roasted cauliflower. Romanesco, a bright green variety with a distinctively fractal shape, is firmer than other cauliflowers and will take more time to cook.
What else could you do with Cauliflower Alfredo sauce?
The Cauliflower Alfredo sauce is as versatile as it is easy. In Brain Health Kitchen Cooking classes, we’ve tossed it with whole grain pasta and gnocchi, poured it over roasted butternut squash, and drizzled it on baked sweet potatoes. The creamy sauce keeps well in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Prep Time | 25 minutes |
Cook Time | 20 minutes |
Passive Time | 15 minutes |
Servings |
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- 1 head cauliflower medium-sized
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
- 1 cup raw cashews soaked for at least one hour and drained
- 1 teaspoon truffle salt
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 1 pound whole grain pasta
Ingredients
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- Trim the cauliflower of any discolored leaves. Trim the base of the main stem so that it stands upright. Place the whole head, stem side down, in a pan large enough to contain it when covered. Add water to cover the stem and just the bottom of the cauliflower.
- Place over high heat, bring to a boil and cover. Reduce the heat to low-medium. Steam for 15 minutes, or until the cauliflower is very soft and a knife or skewer easily pierces through to the core. Steaming times will vary depending on the size of your cauliflower — about 13 minutes for small, 15 minutes for medium, and 18 minutes for a large head.
- Using tongs or a kitchen towel, transfer the cauliflower to a cutting board. Pour the cooking water into a measuring cup. Remove the leaves and cut them into slivers. Cut the stem from the rest of the head, trim off any woody parts, and chop into 2-inch pieces. Cut the head of cauliflower into 4 or 5 pieces.
- Place the steamed cauliflower florets and pieces of stem in a blender. Add the cashews, truffle salt, nutritional yeast, white pepper and 3/4 cup of the cooking water. Blend on medium speed until combined, then on high speed until very creamy, about 2 minutes. Add more cooking water, if needed, to create a pourable, smooth cauliflower cream. Set aside.
- To cook the pasta, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 1 teaspoon of sea salt and add the pasta. Cook until al dente, or still chewy and not quite done. Drain over a colander.
- Pour the cauliflower cream into the same pan used to cook the pasta. Warm over medium heat until bubbling gently. Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and gently combine with a wooden spoon. Once the pasta is coated with the alfredo sauce, add the slivered cauliflower leaves and warm through.
- If you don't have truffle salt, use a good quality sea salt instead.
- Sub in equal parts of Parmesan cheese for the nutritional yeast, and use more sprinkled on top if you like.
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