Pasta with Spinach, Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Goat Cheese

I have two logs of goat cheese in my fridge that need to be used up by the fall.  Now that's definitely not a difficult thing for me to do.  But I'll take any "excuse" to make something with goat cheese.

This is a dish that I used as inspiration for a meal I made last year, but this time I decided to follow it (almost) exactly.  I used more spinach than it called for because hey, I like spinach.  I didn't have oil-packed tomatoes so I took my dry packed ones, put them in a shallow bowl, and covered them with oil.  And since I was planning on eating this over several days, I added the goat cheese to each individual serving, rather than all at once.  I also cooked the garlic and sun-dried tomatoes right with the spinach, rather than mixing them in with the goat cheese. 

All in all, this is delicious.  The goat cheese gives it a wonderfully creamy sauce.  And I love the flavor of garlicky spinach with sun-dried tomatoes.  I think I got 1 big dinner serving and 2 big lunch servings out of it.

Recipe: Pasta with Spinach, Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Goat Cheese (from Adventures in Shaw)
Ingredients:
4 oz sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil (or pour olive oil over them a few hours before you use them)
1-2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
several handfuls of spinach
6-8 oz tagliatelle (I used trader joe's pappardelle)
s&p to taste
pasta water

Directions:
Boil a large pot of salted water for the pasta.  Cook until al dente.
Heat oil from sun-dried tomatoes in a medium skillet on medium heat.  Add garlic - saute for 1 minute and then add the spinach and sun-dried tomatoes.  Add s&p to taste.

Add the cooked pasta directly to the spinach and tomatoes, and toss.  Crumble the goat cheese on top and toss it all together, adding pasta water as needed to thin out the sauce.

Enjoy!

Orzo with Veggies

This recipe is really good.  And very simple.  That's about it - you'll have to try it with your favorite veggies.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
5 sundried tomato halves
~ 1/2 cup orzo
1/4 cup feta cheese (mine was tomato and basil flavored)
s&p

Directions:
Cut the zucchini and squash in a large dice.  Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat, add the rosemary, and cook the zucchini and squash until tender.  Chop (or tear) the tomatoes into pieces, add to the veggies.
Salt some water and bring to a boil.  Cook the orzo until al dente.
Toss the orzo with the veggies and the feta, add s&p to taste.

Easy pasta

After using up all of my strawberries, I still have a ton of spinach left.  Since it's been several days since I bought it, I decided that it would probably taste better cooked than fresh.  This was a very easy dinner.  I was going to write up an actual recipe, but realized that it wasn't really necessary.  When cooking pasta, add spinach in the last minute or two so it cooks, but is not overcooked.  And roasted shrimp is great with this - toss peeled shrimp (thawed if frozen) with olive oil and s&p, and cook for ~7 minutes at 400 F.  Toss everything together and enjoy with some freshly grated cheese.

Green Comfort Pasta 2.0

I spend way too much money on food.  I decided that I need to start project "clean out the pantry."  There are certain pantry "staples" I have that I always replace after I use up.  I'm going to try to use up as much food as I can, from both the pantry and the freezer.  I was still in the mood for comfort pasta, so that meant it was time to use up some of the frozen chopped spinach in the freezer.  I slightly mixed it up from the last recipe I made.  I keep on buying canned artichoke hearts whenever they're on sale, so I decided to add them in.  It's kind of like a very healthy version of spinach artichoke dip!

Recipe: Pasta with Spinach and Artichokes
Ingredients:
6 oz whole wheat medium shells
10 oz frozen spinach
1/2 cup water
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
3 tbsp flour
1/4 cup milk
2 tbsp half and half
4 cloves crushed garlic
1 tsp chopped basil
2 oz cream cheese, softened
1 wedge light garlic and herb laughing cow cheese
freshly grated black pepper
Everyday Seasoning
freshly grated parmesan

Directions:
Boil 1/2 cup water, add the frozen spinach, reduce heat, and simmer (covered) for ~10 minutes, until it is cooked through.  Add the artichokes.  Cook until some of the water cooks off.  Try to press out some of the water.  Add the flour and cook for a few minutes.  Add in the milk and half and half, cook until it forms a sauce.  Add the garlic and basil.  Add the cream cheese and laughing cow cheese, mash them both in until incorporated.
In the meantime, boil water for the pasta.  Cook the shells until al dente.  Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and toss to coat.  Add pasta water if necessary to thin out the sauce.

Season to taste with pepper and your favorite pasta seasoning.  Grate a lot of parmesan on top and enjoy!

Green Comfort Pasta

This is one of my favorite pasta dishes.  Of course it's one of those things that takes a while to cook, and then takes about 5 minutes to eat.  But it's so worth it.  And the leftovers take no time!
So that's all I have to say about it - it's deliciously cheesy, creamy, and full of nutritious spinach!  (I bought mine at the Farmer's Market so it supports the local farmers as well.)  Oh and if you haven't tried gemelli pasta, please do!  It's such a fun shape and holds onto sauces really well.

Note: After posting this recipe, and looking through my archives, I realized that I had already made this and posted about it!  There were slight changes.  This version has a lot more detail.  And this is one of those recipes that will be different every time you make it.  I just thought it was amusing.  It really proves that this is one of my favorites.

Recipe: Creamy Spinach Pasta
Ingredients:
2 tbsp butter
10 oz fresh spinach, removed from stems and torn into pieces
2 tbsp flour
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp half and half
3 cloves crushed garlic
2 wedges light garlic and herb laughing cow cheese
4 oz gemelli pasta
freshly grated parmesan cheese
freshly grated black pepper
Everyday Seasoning (from Trader Joe's)

Directions:
Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat.  Add spinach and cook until wilted.  Add flour and cook for a few minutes.  Slowly stir in the milk, cook until it thickens a bit.  Stir in the half and half and the garlic.  Mash in the laughing cow wedges.
Meanwhile, boil the water for the pasta and cook until al dente.
Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and stir to coat.  Add pasta water as needed to thin out the sauce.
Stir in freshly grated pepper and your favorite pasta seasoning.

Grate some good parmesan cheese on top and enjoy!

Pasta with Pesto

Now that I have freshly made pesto, I need to use it up!  My first idea was pasta with pesto - not very creative, but definitely tasty.  You can use whatever pasta you like, but I love gemelli pasta.  The twists are perfect for the sauce to cling to.  I used a new herb mixture I just bought - Everyday Seasoning from Trader Joe's.  I think it added the perfect flavor.  The amount of ingredients I used was perfect for one serving.

Recipe: Pasta with Pesto
Ingredients:
2.5 oz pasta
2 tbsp pasta, homemade or storebought
freshly grated parmesan
freshly ground Everyday Seasoning (from TJ's)

Directions:
Bring salted water to a boil.  Cook pasta until al dente.  Drain the pasta and toss with the pesto, adding a little of the pasta water if necessary.  Grate some parmesan and grind some spices on top, and enjoy!

Veggies and Pasta, yet again

I'm getting pretty close to getting caught up with my posting!  I compare doing this to writing up experiments in my lab notebook - when you get busy, it's the first thing to go.  And the more things that you need to add, the less you feel like doing it.  And so the cycles goes...
But anyway, this post is about the veggie and pasta dish I made last week (3/22).  I had a ton of veggies, and I wanted to do something easy with them.  This meant roasting.  When I have veggies and I don't have an actual recipe in mind, I just roast them.  It's so easy, and I think they taste best this way.  This time I had asparagus, broccoli and zucchini.
Oh and this reminds me - when I made a dish using asparagus the week before, I added the stems to my veggie scraps stash in my freezer.  I was thinking, and asparagus probably isn't the best to use for a neutral vegetable stock.  It has such a strong flavor, it would probably overpower everything else in it.  I decided to take those out, and add them to a separate bag with the stems from this dish.  I can make an asparagus stock that I can use solely for asparagus soups!  I may just eventually end up throwing them away, but for the meantime, they are hanging out in my freezer.
I used the scraps from the zucchini and broccoli to add to the main veggie bag.  I can't wait until I have enough scraps to do something with them!

Recipe:
Roasted Broccoli, Zucchini and Asparagus with Whole Wheat Rotini
Ingredients:
2 heads broccoli florets
1 lb asparagus
2 medium zucchini
olive oil
s&p
whole wheat rotini
goat cheese
red pepper flakes
freshly grated parmesan

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 F.  Wash the veggies, and cut them to similar sizes.  I snapped the ends off the asparagus and cut the remaining stalk into perhaps 3 pieces, cut the broccoli into slightly larger than bite-sized florets, and cut the zucchini into halved coins.  Put them on a foil-lined deep pan, and drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and freshly cracked pepper.
While the veggies are roasting, heat salted water for the pasta.  (I'm not sure how much pasta I used.  I just poured what I thought would be a good amount into the water, figuring if it wasn't enough I could make more for my leftovers.)
When the veggies are tender, but haven't started to brown much, add the pasta to the boiling water, and turn up the oven to 425 F.  Cook pasta until al dente, drain, and add to the veggies.  Toss them together and scrape up all of those caramelized bits.

For each serving, toss hot veggies and pasta with crumbled goat cheese and red pepper flakes, and grate parmesan on top.

A long absence

Okay, so this time I'm actually back, and with recipes/reviews to boot.  I think this will be easiest if I do it chronologically.
So this is way back on the 11th.  When my parents were here, one of the things we did (so typical that it involved food) was check out Mona Lisa Pasta.  One of my friends had told me about the week before, telling me she buys her pizza dough there.  And then when I ate at The Local, I noticed that some of the dishes on the menu said they used Mona Lisa Pasta.  It's actually a pretty cool place - you go in and they have a lot of items for sale in the front, along with a counter where you can get your cut-to-order fresh pasta, all kinds of bread, pizza, etc.  And you can eat there as well.
They have a lot of pasta flavors, from what I can remember they had - roasted garlic, garlic and parsley, garlic and rosemary, squid ink (very interesting), saffron, mushroom, lemon pepper....probably more that I am forgetting.  They also had many different cuts - angel hair, spaghetti, linguine, fettuccine...
They also had a lot of really yummy looking bread.  I'm definitely going to have to go back.  Once I have a properly working oven, and I acquire a pizza stone, I want to use their whole wheat pasta dough to make some pizza!
But anyway, my parents and I loaded up on the pasta.  I got 1/2 pound of the roasted garlic, and they got 1/2 lb each of the garlic and rosemary, garlic and parsley, and mushroom.  They told us it would last for up to a week in the fridge, uncooked.  And it only takes 90 seconds to cook!  (It may have taken mine a bit more than that, but was still really quick.)
I had to think of a way to use the pasta.  I wanted to keep it simple, so the garlic flavor could shine through.  I decided to do some simple roasted veggies with the pasta, and toss it with goat cheese to create a sauce.

Recipe: Roasted Garlic Pasta with Asparagus, Onions, Tomato and Goat Cheese
Ingredients:
1/2 lb fresh roasted garlic fettuccine
1 lb asparagus
1 large red onion
2-3 roma tomatoes
olive oil
a few oz goat cheese, crumbled
s&p to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 F.  Cut all of the veggies into chunks.  Put in a foil-lined baking pan (like a lasagna pan) and drizzle with olive oil.  Add s&p.
Meanwhile, heat water for the pasta, add some salt.
When the veggies are just about done (tender and starting to brown - this might take 30-40 minutes, depending on how big your veggies are), add the pasta to the boiling water.  If you are using fresh pasta, make sure to separate the strands otherwise you'll have one big congealed mess of pasta.
When the pasta is cooked, add directly to the pan of veggies.  Toss them all together, making sure to scrape up the bits of veggie that stuck to the foil (the best part).  Since this makes a lot of pasta, I like adding the goat cheese to each individual serving.  Crumble some right over your hot pasta, and toss so the cheese melts and you get a "sauce."  If you are using leftovers, microwave for 1-2 minutes after adding the goat cheese.

The most delicious dinner

Weekends need to be at least 50% longer.  I spend half the weekend trying to catch up on sleep, and the other being completely lazy and doing nothing.  Usually, around Sunday night, I realize that the weekend is almost over and have to rush to do the reading I was supposed to do for Monday, and then I end up getting no sleep.  Yet again.  This weekend was no exception.  On Saturday, I actually didn't budge until about 5pm, when I showered, got dressed, went to an a cappella concert (which was a lot of fun!) and then went back home to continue being a bum.  On Sunday, all I got accomplished was my laundry.  Before I knew it, it was time to go to the Duke vs VA bball game (where we were crushed), th  en went to Kroger, read a paper for journal club....

To make a long story short, and to reiterate what I said in my previous post, I didn't cook anything over the weekend.  Remember all of those things I mentioned I was going to try to make?  Didn't even make an attempt.  But that all changed tonight!  I decided that I HAD to try making homemade gnocchi.  I've heard about so many disastrous attempts that I wasn't expecting anything spectacular.  All I can say is OMG....they were so amazing!  I can now tell you that making gnocchi = not hard!  Time consuming, yes. I actually gave up halfway through, and put the rest of the dough in the fridge.  I'll have to make the rest tomorrow.  I cooked all of the gnocchi I formed tonight, I think I may freeze the rest uncooked.

I was very excited to use my food mill.  It worked pretty well, actually.

UPDATE:
I attempted to make more gnocchi with the rest of the dough, and it was definitely not a success.  First, the refrigerated dough was extremely sticky - I kept on adding more and more flour and it would just eat it up.  By the time the dough was manageable, I had both overworked it and added way too much flour.  I cooked a few to test it, before spending too much time on it, and I was glad I did.  They were dense and flavorless - exactly what I was afraid of.  So be careful when you are working with the dough - less is more in this case.  Use as little flour as possible, and don't overwork it.  Trust me!

Gnocchi in Pesto Sauce
Ingredients:
Gnocchi:
2 lbs russet potatoes
1 tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 - 1 1/2 cups flour

Sauce:
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed (I used frozen cubes)
3 tsp basil, chopped (I used frozen cubes)
Parmesan, grated

Directions:
Throughly wash and scrub the potatoes.  Prick them all over with a fork, and place on a foil-lined cookie sheet.  Cook at 400 degrees for 45 minutes - 1 hour, until tender.

Cool for a few minutes, and then put through food mill on fine setting, or through a potato ricer, or grate if you don't have either of those.  If you use a food mill you don't need to peel - otherwise remove the peel before processing.

Let cool in a bowl for a few minutes, then mix in the egg and salt with a wooden spoon.  (You don't want them to be too hot or you'll cook the egg!)  Add flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until the dough no longer sticks to your hands.  Knead the dough for 3-4 minutes, just like a regular bread/pasta dough.

Taking a small amount at a time, roll to about 3/4 inch wide and cut into 1 inch strips.  Take each piece and gently roll against the tines of a fork to give that typical gnocchi appearance.  Place each formed gnocchi on a lightly floured or parchment-paper lined dish.

You can either freeze or cook at this point.  To freeze, place in a single layer on a sheet, with none of them touching each other.  When frozen, remove and place in a freezer bag.  To cook, drop a few at a time in a pot of salted boiling water.  They will float to the surface after a few minutes.  Once they reach the surface, let them cook for another 30 seconds, and then remove from water and place on a dish.  Serve with your favorite sauce, or the one below.

To make sauce:

Heat oil and butter over medium heat.  Add in garlic and basil, until everything is melted.  Add several (cooked) gnocchi, not too many to crowd the pan.  Cook, flipping them every once in a while, until they are golden brown and toasted.

Serve hot with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Grown-Up Mac n Cheese

So here it is...the mac n cheese we've all been anticipating! Okay well maybe it was just me. After not even making an attempt the other night, I decided I would definitely make it yesterday. And my schedule in the lab worked out pretty perfectly. Class was canceled, so after a long coffee "break," I setup the one experiment I needed to do, and then spent a good hour looking through mac n cheese recipes. I bought white cheddar the other night, so I definitely wanted to use that. I also wanted to try to use onions and broccoli. After comparing some of the recipes, I came up with a good cheese to pasta ratio, and made up my own recipe.

I think I'm surprised by quite how delicious this was! (And I got someone else to try it, so it really is good!) There were a lot of small steps, but all in all it wasn't very difficult. I might try to add some more cheese the next time I make it. Either that, or include stronger cheese. I used the same amount of gruyere and cheddar, so it might need more cheddar. Also, this isn't even that bad for you. The whole grain pasta and broccoli add some fiber and vitamins. And hey - cheese is just calcium right? But seriously, this isn't one of those ridiculously fattening meals.

So the next time you're in the mood for mac n cheese, don't even waste your time on that powdered cheese. Make it with real ingredients!

White Cheddar Mac N Cheese with Onions and Broccoli:

Ingredients:

3 tbsp butter

1/2 cup onion, diced (I used 1/2 a small red onion)

3 tbsp flour

2 cups whole milk

1/2 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated

1/8 tsp cayenne

1 tbsp dijon mustard

2 cups broccoli florets, chopped into bite size pieces

8 oz whole grain medium shells

4 oz aged (2 yrs+ is best) white cheddar, shredded

4 oz gruyere, shredded

s&p to taste

1 tbsp soft margarine/butter to grease the dish

2 tbsp parmesan, grated

Directions:

Start out by preparing everything (shredding, chopping, etc). I've found that it's easiest to start cooking if everything is already prepared. Plus, this is how they always do it on tv!

So shred the cheese - it's easiest to do this on a food scale. I got an inexpensive one at BB&B.

Then cut up the broccoli and the onion.

Even measure out the spices if you want. Use the soft margarine/butter to grease a 9x9 pyrex dish. And preheat the oven to 350 F.

So now you're ready to start. Heat the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until it just starts to bubble. Add the onion, and cook until it is soft and translucent.

At this point, I cooked the broccoli in boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Remove from water - add to an ice bath if you really want to stop the cooking. Save the water to use for the pasta.

Slowly add in the flour, maybe a tbsp at a time. Make sure you whisk it really well so there aren't any clumps. Cook, stirring constantly, for a few minutes, to get rid of the raw flour taste. Next, very very slowly add the milk. I added maybe 1/3 cup at a time, and whisked until smooth, then added the next bit. Add the nutmeg, cayenne, and mustard. Keep on whisking, and continue cooking until the sauce thickens up. Reboil the water when you're waiting for the sauce to thicken up. This might take a while. For the longest time, my sauce just seemed like the consistency of milk. After a good 10 minutes, it started to get thicker. So don't give up! When it gets to a gravy-like consistency, take it off the heat.

This is when you can add your pasta to the boiling water. Reserving a handful of the gruyere and cheddar, slowly add into the sauce, stirring until well incorporated.

Drain the pasta after it cooks for 5 minutes. You don't want to overcook it, because it will continue to cook in the oven.

When the sauce is smooth and all of the cheese is incorporated, add s&p to taste. I didn't add any salt - I figure the cheese is salty enough. But I love pepper, so I added a decent amount of that. Then, fold in the pasta and the broccoli. Pour it all into the greased pyrex. Sprinkle the remaining gruyere and cheddar over the pasta, and then grate some parmesan right onto it.

Bake, uncovered, for ~30 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and you have some crusty bits on top.

Let it sit for a few minutes, and then dig in!

Pasta with Roasted Veggies and Shrimp

This may be obvious because I am a vegetarian, but I love veggies! I’ve realized that one way to make a meal seem bigger without completely engorging yourself is to add a ton of veggies. This meal is easy, delicious, and even better – healthy! I think that roasting shrimp is one of the best ways to cook it, and they're always nice and juicy.
This recipe is so easy to adapt – just use whatever vegetables you have on hand. I got the lemon pepper pappardelle and the lemon pepper seasoning from Trader Joe’s.

Pasta with Roasted Veggies and Shrimp:
Ingredients:
2 bunches of broccoli florets
1 red bell pepper
Olive oil
Lemon pepper seasoning
Lemon pepper pappardelle
~3/4 lb shrimp
Hard cheese for grating

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. If using frozen shrimp, thaw under running cold water. Drain and pat dry. Wash the broccoli, and then cut up into individual stalks. Wash the bell pepper and cut into long strips. Toss the broccoli and pepper with 1-2 tbsp olive oil and some lemon pepper seasoning. If you don’t have this seasoning, substitute some freshly squeezed lemon juice or dried lemon peel, and salt and pepper. Spread out on a foil-lined pan and put in the oven for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, boil salted water for the pasta, and de-shell your shrimp. Toss the shrimp in olive oil and lemon pepper seasoning. Pull out the veggies and make room for the shrimp, so it can all be spread out in a single layer. Put back in the oven for ~8 minutes. Cook the pasta until al dente. When everything is done, toss the pasta, shrimp and veggies together. Add some additional lemon pepper seasoning or s&p, and grate the cheese of your choice on top.

Pasta with Spinach Sauce

I love spinach. I especially love it when it’s cooked and creamy with some kind of cheese. Of course, cheese makes everything better. So I decided the other night to make an all-time favorite – pasta with cheesy spinach sauce. I had planned on making enough to last several meals. What I had forgotten was how much fresh spinach shrinks down once cooked! So I made enough for dinner and lunch the next day. Whenever there are at least some leftovers, I feel my time cooking is validated.

This is yet again another vague recipe. I listed the amounts I used, but I usually base it on taste. It all depends on how much garlic you like, how thick or thin you want the sauce, what your sauce-to-pasta ratio is…

Pasta with Spinach Sauce:
Ingredients:
2 tbsp butter
9 oz fresh baby spinach (I picked off all of the stems – probably isn’t really necessary for you to do this)
2 cubes crushed garlic (I used frozen cubes of crushed garlic – 2 cloves would substitute)
¼ - ½ cup milk (I used whole milk leftover from the cinnamon raisin bread)
3 wedges laughing cow cheese (light garlic & herb)
2-3 tbsp flour
1 cup whole wheat rotini
Freshly ground black pepper
Parmigiano Reggiano

Directions:
Melt butter over medium-low heat in a medium saucepan or pot. Add the spinach. If your pan/pot isn’t big enough to hold all of the spinach at once, add a little at a time. It will wilt down once cooked, so you’ll eventually be able to fit it all in. In the meantime, boil salted water and cook the pasta. When the spinach is almost entirely wilted, add the crushed garlic and milk. I like adding a little milk at a time, and adding more later if I think the sauce needs to be thinner. Add the laughing cow cheese, mushing (a technical term) it into the sauce. Add the flour and continue stirring. Once the sauce is at your desired consistency (and flavor – taste and add ingredients to your liking), stir in the pasta. Serve with black pepper and some freshly grated cheese.

This recipe can easily be doubled, tripled, etc. It depends on how many people you are cooking for, and in my case, how much fresh spinach you have!

"Sandy" Pasta

So usually, when a recipe doesn’t go according to plan, that’s a bad thing. Not always so! Over the summer my friend Jess told me her mom’s famous recipe for “sandy pasta.” Now I know that sounds like the sandwiches you ate on the beach as a kid, but it really is good. It’s basically pasta with breadcrumbs that have been toasted in olive oil, garlic and herbs. Really tasty. The other day, while in class, I decided that what I really wanted for dinner was some sandy pasta. I remembered that in the summer I added some chopped tomatoes and that made it even more delicious. Of course now, it’s in the middle of winter, and I refuse to buy tomatoes. They are overpriced and filled with water. But that’s okay, I have a can of diced tomatoes. Let’s just say that adding a can of diced tomatoes, with the liquid, kind of defeats the purpose of a pasta dish that is supposed to have dry, toasted breadcrumbs. But you know what? It was actually still really good! It turned a great summer dish into something that is a little heartier, for the winter. I’m excited that my revision didn’t completely ruin the dish. So try this if you’re in the mood for something different. But when fresh tomatoes are in season – you must try the original version.

"Sandy" Pasta (adapted from Jess's recipe)
Ingredients: (these are going to be very vague since I wasn’t in the mood to measure)
Olive oil (2-3 tbsp)
3-4 cloves of garlic
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Dried basil (fresh would be amazing if you have it on hand)
Seasoned breadcrumbs – I used maybe ½ a cup?
Can of diced tomatoes (or 2 chopped tomatoes during the summer)
Pasta (I used rotini – and maybe about a cup?)
Parmegiano reggiano (or other hard cheese for grating)
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
Heat the olive oil over medium heat. Dice or slice the garlic – it depends on how much you like garlic. If you love it – you can make the pieces bigger and even add more cloves. Add the garlic to the pan, with the pepper flakes (and dried basil). In the meantime, heat salted water for the pasta, and cook it until al dente. Keep an eye on the garlic to make sure it doesn’t burn. Add the breadcrumbs and stir to evenly distribute the oil. Stir occasionally to toast evenly. Once the breadcrumbs have absorbed all of the oil, add the tomatoes. Cook until heated through. Once the pasta is ready, add it right to the pan. If you need to thin out the sauce, add some of the pasta water. (If using fresh basil, this is when to add it.) Grate some cheese on top, sprinkle with black pepper, and enjoy!