Linguine with cauliflower pesto from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook: Recipes and Wisdom from an Obsessive Home Cook (page 123) by Deb Perelman

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Notes about this recipe

  • lholtzman on March 21, 2025

    This recipe was fine, but I found it a bit bland. I had trouble getting the pesto to stick to the pasta. If I make this again I’ll heat the pesto a bit in a skillet and toss the cooked pasta in the pan to assemble there.

  • snoozermoose on December 06, 2021

    This fell flat for us. I love all the ingredients individually, and the pesto tasted great until I added the almonds. But somehow the almonds seemed to cancel all the other flavors out, and gave it an unpleasant texture that I couldn't get over. I could barely finish my bowl, and we ended up throwing it all out because no one wanted to eat it.

  • Dannausc on November 26, 2017

    It wasn’t my favorite dish ever. It was okay but not really my thing. I found it rather meh.

  • VineTomato on November 17, 2017

    Divine! Was not sure about the raw cauliflower but it worked a dream. I only used a quarter clove of garlic and still found it strong. I forgot to add the oil and it was still great - even better! Will be making this one again and again!

  • louie734 on July 17, 2017

    What a great dish to make when you want something a bit hearty but it's just too hot to do much more than boil water. Or make ahead - the pesto was done before I even thought about boiling water for pasta; I could have done it hours ahead. Instead of long noodles, I used campanelle, which caught all the little bits of pesto inside and was just perfect. Leftovers were great too - afraid of cauli-mush, I microwaved till just barely hot, which kept the texture, but I'd bet that had more to do with the almonds. Loved this.

  • thefritschkitchen on January 21, 2016

    Not a huge fan - didn't all come together for me. Leftovers were better than the original night, but not something I would make again. It wasn't bad, just didn't hit the right notes for us. Too much pasta, too little else.

  • Rutabaga on February 14, 2015

    I really enjoyed this dish, but unfortunately my husband wasn't very taken with it; he found the raw cauliflower flavor too dominant. If I make it again, I'd like to halve the amount of cauliflower and increase the sun-dried tomatoes (I used semi-dried tomatoes in oil) and some of the other ingredients. I made my sauce in the blender, which worked pretty well, but wasn't as chunky as the sauce pictured here. Leaving aside some whole almonds or pine nuts, as well as some capers, to mix in, would probably also add some appeal. Olives and more fresh herbs could also be very good.

  • adelina on December 15, 2014

    Simple for weeknight and family left no trace of pasta. I made the pesto the night before and it was slightly bitter the next day. To remove the bitterness, I cooked the pesto slightly and added some lemon juice at the end. I also added some kale and spinach leaves to cook up with the pesto since I had some on hand.

  • robinelizabethleslie on March 19, 2014

    I'll second the previous note! Definitely different, but surprisingly delicious. To finish I drizzled it with a touch more olive oil, as I found it was a little dry. Very good microwaved for lunch the next day!

  • cpauldin on January 25, 2014

    Very unusual but very tasty! The pesto is thicker than a typical green pesto but coats the pasta well. It's the kind of pasta dish you find that you want to keep eating! Reheats well.

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