Delicious Dish: Rock My World, Arugula

There is something I recently discovered that is rockin' my world. Arugula. Yes, I know... it sounds a bit strange, but recently I've been all about this leafy green. A few weeks back I posted about a warm pasta tossed with Arugula, and since then I've been looking for different ways to use it. 

Monday was a lazy day around here. Jason put a tri-tip on the grill and I started looking through the fridge and cupboards to see what what indigents catch my attention, then see what type of things I can make with it.  I do this a lot, in my head I've branded it "Google Recipe Roulette" - I find 1-2 things that I want to use in a recipe, and type them into Google and see what comes up. Since it was memorial day, I was looking for some kind of pasta salad, and after breezing through a few different recipes, I found the site The Arugula Files  and their pasta salad offering.

Recipe from The Arugula Files:

Ingredients
1 bag of arugula
1 box of rotini
2 lemons
4 garlic cloves
1 cup of garbanzo beans ** I used the Trader Joe's 3 Bean salad and it was delish!
1/2 block of feta **or crumbled feta
a knob of butter
1/4 cup of olive oil
Dash of rice vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. Chop garlic into small pieces
2. Heat butter and olive oil over low heat – add garlic
3. Add juice of 2 lemons
4. Add dash of rice vinegar
5. Let simmer for a few minutes (do not burn the garlic)
6. Boil pasta
7. Strain pasta and save a few tablespoons of pasta water
8. Mix pasta water with lemony oil mixture
9. Pour 1/2 of lemony oil mixture over hot pasta
10. Add half of the arugula bag to hot pasta and stir around until it wilts
11. Add garbanzo beans
12. Add remaining arugula
13. Add the rest of the lemony oil mixture
14. Add feta
15. Toss
16. Add salt and pepper to taste

Have you tried that marinated bean salad from Trader Joes's yet? It's fabulous - a great item to always have on hand. I drained the liquid and just used the beans, but they gave it a little more flavor. Also, my feta was a seasoned crumbled feta, which I prefer to a block feta.

The salad was a hit and I think it would be a great item to bring to a summer BBQ. Something a little different and great for those who don't like a mayonnaise-based salad.