Pasta with cauliflower ragu

To make the pasta with cauliflower ragu, first wash the celery, carrot, and onion, and chop them roughly. Put the vegetables in a food processor 1 and blitz until they’re chopped finely 2. Chop the rosemary needles finely, too 3.

Heat a drizzle of oil in a large pot and add the rosemary 4, then the diced vegetables, and fry lightly for around 10 minutes 5. Next, pour in the tomato purée and a splash of water, just enough to rinse the container the purée was in 6.

Now add the tomato paste 7 and season with salt. Cover the pot with a lid and cook over low heat for around 40 minutes, stirring every so often. In the meantime, clean the cauliflower and separate the florets 8, and then chop them roughly in the food processor 9. You’ll need around 1 lb (500 g) of cleaned cauliflower.

After the cooking time for the ragu has passed, the sauce will have reduced slightly. Now, add the cauliflower 10, stirring well 11, then season with some thyme 12 leaves and a grind of pepper. Adjust the salt if needed. At this point, you can cook the mezze maniche pasta in boiling salted water; the sauce will finish cooking at the same time as the pasta.

Adjust the thickness of the ragu with a little pasta cooking water 13, and when the pasta is ready, drain and pour straight into the sauce 14. Stir to combine the pasta with the ragu and finish off with another grind of pepper and some shaved Pecorino Romano. Your pasta with cauliflower ragu is ready to be served 15!