Easiest Pasta Base Ever

We all know pasta makes for a tasty dinner. But what it doesn't always bring to mind is simplicity. It's easy to get hung up on simmering a sauce for an hour, or making a baked pasta dish that takes nearly as long. That's where a simple garlic and olive oil base comes in. This is the most versatile "sauce" for pasta that I have come across, and it takes next to no time to prepare. And the best part is, you can add anything to it and it's delicious.

GARLIC AND OLIVE OIL PASTA BASE
-enough olive oil to fully coat your pan (3-4 tbsp should do it)
-6-10 garlic cloves, minced, depending on how garlicky you want your dish (more is better, in my opinion)
-1 tsp red pepper flakes
-ground black pepper

All you need to do is heat the oil on medium, add the garlic, red pepper flake, and pepper, and saute for about 5 minutes. Then you can go ahead and start adding. Tonight I used fresh cherry tomatoes (halved) from the farmer's market this morning and canellini beans. I cooked these about 5 minutes. Then I added a bunch of fresh arugula, also from the farmer's market. I boiled some spaghetti while I was doing this, and after I drained it I tossed it in to help wilt the arugula. A sprinkle of fresh chopped herbs was all this needed to be complete.

Some other good additions to this base are artichoke hearts, roasted peppers, fresh mozzarella chunks, shrimp, and chard. I could go on, but I'll let you experiment and find your favorites for yourself!