I had a lot of greens come in at once in the summer garden; spinach, arugula, and radish greens. I thought these would be great sautéed and topped over penne pasta. For some added flavor I pan fried chopped bacon, sautéing the greens in the same pan, drained of most of its bacon grease, along with grape tomatoes, and fresh basil. I served it with a simple salad made from ingredients from the garden.
While I waited for the pasta water to boil I chopped up the tomatoes and basil and tossed with salt and pepper. I set the cast iron skillet over high heat and while it got hot I chopped about 3 strips of bacon. I fried the bacon until it began to crisp but was still soft. The bacon created a lot of grease. I turned the heat off and drained almost all of the grease. I left just a thin layer on the bottom of the pan. Leaving in the bacon I put the pan back over medium/high heat. I added the tomatoes and basil, stirring it regularly; I cooked it for about two or three minutes.
While the pasta cooked I added the greens to the tomatoes and bacon and sautéed on medium/low heat until wilted but not soggy. Before I drained the pasta I added about a tablespoon or two of the pasta water to the greens. I added the drained pasta to the greens and turned to low heat, stirring well to marry all the flavors, for about two or three minutes.
For the salad I tossed together fresh greens, radishes, tomatoes, and cucumber, topped with parmesan and dressed with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar and finished with a dash of salt and pepper.
I served the pasta topped with parmesan cheese.
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