Pasta with sautéed cherry tomatoes and spinach

Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 2 to 4

Ingredients

• 8 oz of pasta – I used penne
• 10 oz of cherry tomatoes – chopped in half
• 10 oz of baby spinach – roughly chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic minced
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 12 kalamata olives – roughly chopped
• parmesan cheese – finely grated
• 8 twists of black pepper
• a pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add one bouillon cube.
2. While the water is coming to a boil, prep and chop your cherry tomatoes and spinach. Mince garlic. Roughly chop olives and grate cheese.
3. When water comes to a boil, add pasta and cook as per package instructions.
4. While pasta is cooking, add 1 tbs of olive oil and garlic to a large sauté pan and cook for 30 seconds over medium high heat until briefly cooked – stirring the whole time so garlic doesn’t burn.
5. Add chopped spinach to the sauté pan a bit at a time. As it cooks down, continue to add spinach until all spinach has been added to the pan. Once spinach has wilted down, remove spinach to a large bowl. There shouldn’t be a lot of water in the bottom of the pan, but if there is then strain it off.
6. Add 1 tbs olive oil to the sauté pan, add 2 cloves minced garlic and cook briefly (30 seconds). Add cherry tomatoes, black pepper and a pinch of salt to the pan and cook for 3 minutes over medium high heat until tomatoes cook down and release their juices. Add cherry tomatoes to cooked spinach in the bowl.
7. When pasta is done, strain and add to the bowl with cherry tomatoes and spinach. Add chopped olives and 2/3 of parmesan cheese. Toss to combine. Sprinkle remaining parmesan cheese over the top of the pasta and serve.