Make: Spicy Garlic Pasta & Shrimp with Roasted Cauliflower

With the arrival of lent (which is now almost over), I had been searching for some meatless meals to prepare for our Friday night dinners.  You know, aside from mac n' cheese, or grilled cheese & tomatoe soup (though there is nothing wrong with either of those, but a little variety never hurt anyone)!  Since I despise all forms of fish, lent can be a realllly long few weeks for me, in terms of Friday night eats.

I came upon this recipe & thought it sounded delicious.  I tweaked a few things... added shrimp & it was a total hit in our house.  Also, I am not good about eating vegetables; the roasted cauliflower totally gets lost in this dish & you can’t even taste it, so I consider that a win!  Basically, I’m like a child.  You have to hide vegetables in the meal & then I will eat them.  Unless they’re mushrooms.  I can spot even a finely diced mushroom even a mile way.

So I thought I’d share the goodness that is this pasta -- my recipe is slightly adapted from Minimalist Baker.  The original recipe can be found here.

For the roasted Cauliflower, I followed Minimalist Baker’s recipe pretty much to a T, but didn’t measure anything, I'm a fan of just eye balling things.  I bought a head of cauliflower, already cut into florets & drizzled it with olive oil, then just sprinkled minced garlic, red pepper flakes, & sea salt until I thought it looked good.  Pop that into a 450* preheated oven to roasted for about 20 minutes -- tossing after 10 minutes. Set that aside when done.

While that is roasting, boil 12 oz. of pasta – I used spaghetti – until al dente.   I threw in 2 chicken bouillon cubes to give the pasta a little added flavor.  Once done, drain the water & set that aside.

In a large frying pan, heat about 2 tbsp. olive oil. Add 2 tsp. minced garlic, ¼ tsp. red pepper flakes, & a dash of sea salt.  Add in 15-20 peeled & deveined shrimp.  Cooked until pink & set aside.

In that same frying pan heat about ¼ c. olive oil.  To that add 3 tsp. minced garlic & ½ tsp red pepper flakes (more if you like it spicier, less if you don’t), sautéing about 2 minutes.  Add in the cooked pasta, cooked shrimp, roasted cauliflower, 2 Tbsp. dried parsley, & ½ c. parmesan cheese.  Toss to coat.

Serve immediately, though the leftovers are good too!

Happy cooking, friends!

P.S. The Minimalist Baker has TONs of great recipes if you’re looking for some new dishes to add to your repertoire.


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