Pasta with spinach and lemon

What follows is too simple to be called a recipe, but the result is delicious anyway. The lemon zest gives this dish an ineffable zing.

1. Cook one box of pasta, minus the box. (I like penne.) You can do everything that follows as the water comes to a boil and the pasta cooks.
2. Smash and chop up some garlic, as much or as little as you like. I usually use six or eight cloves.
3. Scrape the zest from one lemon. A zester makes this work easy. If you remove the zest in long strands, chop them into smaller pieces.
4. Squeeze the juice from the now-denuded lemon.
5. Lightly brown the garlic in olive oil in a pan. Add some red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.
6. Add a bag of baby spinach leaves to the pan, minus the bag.
7. Marvel at the way the spinach reduces so quickly in the heat.
8. It's really amazing, isn't it?
9. Add the lemon juice and zest.
10. Drain the pasta and mix with everything else.

Serve with Parmesan or Romano cheese, or no cheese. Dry white wine goes well with this dish (on the side, in a glass).

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