Orecchiette? Oh-rah-what? Orecchiette with cherry tomatoes and arugula

Another gem from my favorite online recipe goddess at www.smittenkitchen.com. On her blog she hand makes the pasta, but let's be serious, after work you hardly want to hand-make pasta, so I'm just going to take the complex part out of it. Truth of the matter is this dish is fabulous for dinner then equally  fab for lunch reheated the next day.... and I loathe leftovers. 

As far as finding the pasta goes, I had to search for a while in the pasta section, but it was there! If you don't want to hunt, or you just don't care, any kind of softer, smaller pasta will do. I think its totally worth the hunt - it’s a marvelous pasta! 

 Orecchiette with cherry tomatoes and arugula (25 minutes)

Ingredients

×          2 cups dry orecchiette

×          2 tablespoons olive oil

×          2 cloves of garlic, minced

×          2 small shallots, finely chopped (PS you should always have these handy!)

×          1 pint mixed red and yellow cherry tomatoes, quartered (or you can be boring and just use red)

×          2 cups fresh arugula, de-stemmed, roughly chopped

×          Salt and pepper

×          Parmesan

Instructions

1.       Cook pasta fully, strain and set aside

2.       Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium heat

3.       Add garlic and shallots. Sauté until soft but not browned (about 5 minutes)

4.       Add chopped cherry tomatoes and cook until they have softened but not lost completely lost their form (about 3-5 minutes)

5.       Add pasta, reheating it in the sauce and seasoning with salt and pepper

6.       Add the arugula, stirring it until it has just wilted

7.       Add parmesan and enjoy!