Penne with Olive Oil, Garlic and Crushed Red Pepper Sauce

It's been quite a few days since I've posted anything here! I got hit with a really nasty cold mid-week and I'm just now starting to feel a bit better. The timing was unfortunate as it was my birthday on Thursday but I suppose that's one of the downsides of a winter birthday. In any event, I have been making some things in the kitchen and will be catching up on my posting soon!

The first day I came down with my cold I really wasn't in the mood to make dinner. I was craving pasta so I searched for a really quick pasta sauce for which I had all of the necessary ingredients on hand. It doesn't get much easier than this recipe that I wound up using. It's a perfect weeknight meal as it can be thrown together in just a few minutes. For us, it was a nice change since we usually have a simple marinara sauce if we're doing pasta at the last minute. This sauce is really simple but the flavors are bold. I might add chicken or shrimp next time but otherwise, I wouldn't change a thing!

Penne with Olive Oil, Garlic and Crushed Red Pepper Sauce
adapted from RecipeZaar

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup pasta cooking water
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
grated parmesan cheese
1 lb penne pasta

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds, making sure it doesn't brown. Add the pasta water, red pepper flakes, salt, and parsley and bring to a boil. Toss with cooked pasta. Add freshly grated parmesan cheese to taste.