Pasta with Sauteed Tomatoes and Arugula

Wanna know how I can end up with this? Read on to find out!

 On this weekend's trip to Hydro Harvest Farms, I got the opportunity to give a friend a tour of all the deliciousness growing.  How could I resist this beautiful bounty?!?

 
The Farm has an entire row of arugula in the top towers and some sweet onions growing in the lower-most boxes.  Beautiful sight, right?  It's easy to be seduced by a view like this. I only walked away with one basket full and consider myself sensible for walking away with so little.

With that much arugula, I had to do something and, after I sampled a few leaves, it just screamed "pasta."  Some beautiful tomatoes that survived the Florida freezes were staring at me near the scales and they climbed into my basket too.  A dish started forming in the back of my mind - peppery arugula and sweet and tangy tomatoes would combine perfectly with some sharp and salty Pecorino Romano and Parmesan cheeses over some linguine.

Recipe:

Water for Pasta
1/2 box of linguine
4 tablespoons olive oil
6-8 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups arugula, stemmed and cleaned
3 small tomatoes, seeded and roughly chopped
1 cup garbanzo beans, with cooking liquid - or one can, drained with 1/2 cup water
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt and Pepper to Taste
Grated Pecorino Romano and Parmesan Cheese

Prep all ingredients according to the above specifications to have by the stove ready to go.  Put salted water on the stove set on high to boil for pasta.  Set a large pan on the stove as well.  In the large pan, heat the oil on medium high heat.  When shimmering, add the garlic until lightly tan.  Most of my recipes start this way, and for good reason....look at this...

 Add the tomatoes and cook until tomatoes begin to soften.  By this time, the water should be boiling so add the pasta to the water and turn down the heat to medium high.  Add a pinch of salt, beans and white wine to the pan.  When the liquid reaches a boil, add the greens to the pan and cook until the greens wilt and the liquids reduce by half. 

By this time, the pasta should be just barely al dente so pull the pasta off the heat and drain it!  Reserve about 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water and add it with the pasta to the saute pan and add the grated cheese to the pan as well along with the cayenne pepper and additional salt and pepper to taste.

Cook together for about 5 minutes to allow the pasta to soak up the sauce in the bottom of the pan.  Serve with some grated cheese on top for garnish, if you so choose.