I wanted something very strongly flavored. And spicy. And, surprisingly, I wanted a garlic OD...
Earlier this summer, we were coming to the end of a very long string of days in the upper upper 90s to the mid-100s... with nights not much cooler. And salads work for me most of the time in hot weather...
But sometimes I need to overpower my senses... and this was one of those nights...
So I sautéed an obscene amount of very finely minced garlic in an almost equally obscene amount of EVOO, added a healthy splash of white wine, reduced the wine, added an entire 8-ounce container of arugula that I chopped pretty fine, way too much flaked red pepper, and black pepper... and cooked until the arugula had just wilted...
Then I added some reserved pasta water along with a pound of not-quite-done rotini, and let that cook until the pasta was ready. I added, for me, a surprisingly small amount of Parmesan because I was really looking for punch, not dairy richness.
Just what the doctor ordered for a blazingly hot night: strong, bitter, spicy, and surprisingly deep in flavor. And I may have turned a corner on the amount of Parmesan I use!!!