Romanesco Cauliflower Pasta with Olives, Capers, and Parsley
A simple and flavorful romanesco cauliflower pasta with parsley and bursts of saltiness from kalamata olives and briny capers. This vegetarian pasta recipe comes together quickly and can be easily adapted with regular cauliflower or other vegetables!
Romanesco Cauliflower Pasta
It’s been a hot minute since I shared a new pasta recipe with you! As most of you know, my love for pasta runs very deep. It is my favorite comfort food (far more than desserts and sweets!).
While I love branching out with most foods, I have a tendency to stick with the same tried and true preparations over and over again. I’d call it a pasta rut, but we love them so much that we never seem to mind.
Either way, one of my goals is to branch out and get more creative with our weekly pasta dinners, particularly as spring and summer unfold and we’re greeted with endless fresh produce. This roasted romanesco cauliflower pasta with olives, capers, and parsley (inspired by Alice Waters) is my latest creation.
It is a flavorful, simple pasta recipe that can be adapted easily and changed with the seasons. Best of all, you can use this basic framework and apply it to almost any vegetable!
Romanesco: Roman Cauliflower
Let’s start with the basics. Romanesco, commonly known as Roman cauliflower or ‘romanesco broccoli’, is very similar to cauliflower in both taste and appearance. You can cook it in exactly the same way, but I always prefer to keep the preparation simple to show off its appearance.
While it looks similar to cauliflower, romanesco has a few differences. Romanesco is lime green in color, slightly more delicate in flavor, and the tightly clustered florets are spiral in shape. It is one of the most beautiful vegetables (in my humble opinion) ever, and I get very excited whenever I see them at the grocery store or on a restaurant menu.
That being said, romanesco can be tricky to come by. Its season ranges from late fall to late winter. While romanesco will lend this dish a certain flair, please know that you can substitute it with regular cauliflower. The pasta will taste identical either way.
How to Cut Romanesco
Romanesco may look a little different than your basic head of cauliflower or broccoli, but you’ll want to prep it in much the same way.
Whenever I’m breaking down a whole broccoli or cauliflower, I start by removing the base and slicing the whole head in half through the base. Once I do this, I slice the halves into quarters. Standing each quarter upright and holding your knife at an angle, trim the florets from the core. Most of the florets will naturally break off and you can cut any remaining florets to match their size.
You’ll want to take the same approach with romanesco.
For this pasta, you’ll want to keep the florets quite small (bite size, so they’re well integrated in the pasta!). The romanesco florets are tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roasted at a high temperature until caramelized.
I love to roast romanesco, because it concentrates the delicate flavor and allows the florets to retain their beautiful shape and look.
The rest of the components of this cauliflower pasta come together in less time than it takes to boil the pasta on the stove!
Chopped garlic is sautéed in a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil in a skillet on the stovetop, then combined with sliced kalamata olives, briny capers, and a generous pinch of red pepper flakes for a touch of heat. The olives and capers add a touch of saltiness, which I love, to each bite.
At the last minute, we’ll be adding lots and lots of freshly chopped Italian parsley. Don’t skimp on the parsley. It adds brightness and flavor to this simple pasta.
You can certainly top this pasta with grated parmigiano cheese or keep it as is! A little drizzle of peppery high-quality extra virgin olive oil would be excellent too.
Romanesco Cauliflower Pasta with Olives, Capers, and Parsley
Ingredients
- 1 large head of romanesco or cauliflower (roughly 1.5 to 2 lbs)
- 2 heaping tablespoons extra virgin olive oil divided
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 3 large cloves garlic finely chopped
- ½ cup pitted kalamata olives sliced lengthwise
- 2 tablespoons capers roughly chopped
- large pinch red pepper flakes
- 1 heaping cup Italian parsley leaves, chopped plus more for garnishing
- 1 lb dried linguini or fettuccine pasta
- grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C) with a rack in the center position.
- Trim and discard the base of the romanesco and cut it in half, then quarters. Standing each quarter upright and holding your knife at an angle, trim the florets from the core. Most of the florets will fall off or can be separated easily with your fingers (you want the florets to be no larger than an inch in diameter); cut any larger florets in half with a knife to match the size of the other florets.
- Place the florets on a half sheet pan and toss with 1 heaping tablespoon olive oil, kosher salt, and freshly ground pepper. Distribute the florets cut-side down into an even layer, making sure that the florets aren't touching one another if possible. Roast for 15 to 20 minutes, tossing halfway, or until caramelized and tender.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta. Heat the remaining olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring continuously, or until fragrant. Do not allow it to gain color. Add the kalamata olives, capers, and red pepper flakes to the pan, and sauté for an additional minute or until warm. Taste for salt and pepper. Add half of the parsley to the skillet and keep the mixture warm - off the heat - as you cook the pasta.
- Boil the pasta until it is al dente, reserving 1 cup of the starchy cooking water. Return the pasta to the pot and add the kalamata olive and caper mixture and roasted cauliflower. Toss the mixture together gently, adding the remaining chopped parsley, and a touch of extra virgin olive oil and some reserved pasta water. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Serve immediately and garnish with chopped parsley and grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese as desired.
Tips for Success:
- Romanesco (which also goes by the name of Roman cauliflower) is in season from late fall to late winter. While romanesco will lend this dish a certain flair, it can be trickier to come by.Feel free to substitute it with regular cauliflower. The resulting pasta, while not quite as striking, will be very similar in taste!
18 Comments on “Romanesco Cauliflower Pasta with Olives, Capers, and Parsley”
Lovely! I used spelt spaghetti and added lemon zest and juice at the end. Simple and delicious, a go-to recipe for sure.
Just made this tonight and we absolutely loved it. I will definitely make again
Utterly delicious! Thank you so much for the inspiration.
We liked the combination of olives and romanesco when I made this a couple weeks ago. The olives balanced the cauliflower-y flavor my husband doesn’t like.
Any advice on how much romanesco/cauliflower to use by weight? Or even volume of florets? Our community supported agriculture box included 5 quite small heads. One mini-head is clearly not enough for 4 servings. Thanks
Great question! I should have made this more clear in the recipe and will add the notes – as they do tend to vary pretty dramatically by size. Ideally, a larger head of romanesco, roughly 1.5 to 2 lbs. Hope this helps!
Whilst partner loved this, I found awfully boring. Would definitely recoend balancing out with some lemon zest and someone suggested a heap of butter which sounds nice.
I love romanesco and this was a nice base recipe but needs tweaking to taste.
This was one of the most boring pastas I’ve ever had. It wasn’t saucy enough and I didn’t even use an entire pound of pasta. I had to add butter and lots of parmesan to make it decent tasting. I definitely won’t be making it again
Sorry to hear that. As you can tell from the photos and ingredient list, this was never intended to be a saucy pasta, but apologize if that was not more obvious before you made it.
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I had a can of mussels en escabiche that I haven’t been able to figure out how to use. None of the mussel recipes I’ve found sounded good and typically call for fresh mussels. So I went looking for a pasta dish I thought they’d go well with. This one seemed like a hit because the pepper flakes and capers and olives compliment the escabiche while the romanesco, cheese and pasta add contrasting rich fatty and starchy flavors.
The mussels was the only ingredient I added. I otherwise followed the recipe exactly and it turned out amazing!! The roasted romanesco was sooo lovely with the salty capers and creamy pasta-water sauce. The mussels folded in nicely without being too strong and keeping the romanesco as the star.
I might make it without the kalamata olives next time, only because olives with pasta arent my personal favorite, but I get the dark, rich, and ever so slightly bitter notes that they add. But I think it’d also be great without it. Itd make it a bit of a lighter dish. If I did omit the olives, I might add a touch of lemon zest and/or juice to brighten with the loss of the olive’s brineiness.
But personal preferences aside, and even without the seafood addition, this recipe is one of the best I’ve made in some time. It’s so simple, but so well-composed. Thank you so much for sharing it!
This is the BEST recipe I’ve come by in a long time! Thank you so so much for sharing this with the world! I added it to my blog Staceuosity.com, and shared on IG. I hope many more people try this and love it as much as I do!
I received a surprise head of Romanesco in a box and immediately went looking for a recipe. As I love capers and kalamata olives, this one was the obvious choice. I used whole wheat pasta and topped it with some Romano cheese rather than Parmesan since that is what I had, and it was beyond delicious. I was concerned that a whole pound of pasta would need more olives or capers but the proportions are spot on. (Well, I did add an extra clove of garlic because I always do!) I am adding it to my collection of cauliflower recipes.
Would it be criminal if I changed the parsley to basil? Just don’t like parsley but the picture looks wonderful.
Not at all!!! Might be tastier, haha!
This dish is delicious. I added a can of anchovies and it gave it a nice kick. Will make it again.
Yum! Love that addition. I’m going to have to try that next time I make it.
I have a weakness for pasta, too, and this is such a perfect dish for spring. Love romanesco but often intimidated by it so thank you for the how-to on chopping it up. Can’t wait to try!