Cauliflower Carbonara

A lot of Rome inspiration these days. My favorite carbonara on Earth also is located in the great city of Rome at Maccheroni. I think it’s just fun to reminisce about foregone days of traveling right now. I got the idea for doing this Cauliflower Carbonara when I had a leftover package of bacon and wanted to make use of it. It’s super simple and I’ve made it before – but for this particular dish I actually used Applegate TURKEY bacon – how blasphemous – but that’s what I had in my fridge. My husband didn’t even notice it was turkey bacon until half way through dinner but maybe that says something about him? Again, I’m trying my best to use what’s in my house – so for the shopping list I’m just going to write BACON and you can make your own decision.

SHOPPING LIST: 3 heads cauliflower, 4 egg yolks, bacon, milk, coconut oil, grapeseed oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder

Preheat your oven to 375. I happen to ALWAYS use the convection function on my oven, so if you have that, it helps your cauliflower brown quicker. Remove the florets from your cauliflower and lay on a sheet pan. Drizzle with coconut oil, season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder, and toss well so all of the florets are equally coated in oil and seasoning. Roast your cauliflower for 40 minutes – or until the florets are sufficiently browned.

While your cauliflower is roasting you can prep your bacon. I chopped an entire pack of bacon because I wanted it to be hearty. Since I was using turkey bacon, and it has a lesser fat content, I started by heating 2 tB. of grapeseed oil in my pan. Once the oil was hot, I began to sauté the chopped the chopped bacon until it was super crisp and well done. (If you choose to use regular bacon, I always prefer to start bacon in a COLD pan, no oil, and then heat the pan – the bacon will render LOTS of fat and you should definitely include this bacon grease in your carbonara sauce.)

In a separate bowl, combine 4 egg yolks with 1 tB. of milk and season with salt and pepper. When the cauliflower is adequately roasted, put the cauliflower IMMEDIATELY in your serving bowl — YOU NEED THE CAULIFLOWER TO BE HOT TO “TEMPER” YOUR EGGS PROPERLY. Top with the bacon or turkey bacon directly out of the pan with ALL the warm drippings. Finally, pour the egg yolk and milk mixture on top of the cauliflower and mix for 1-2 minutes until the cauliflower are sufficiently coated. Serve and enjoy right away 🙂