Gemelli with Broccoli, Bacon, and Chickpeas

I'm a simple kind of girl. I like simple recipes without a lot of ingredients, but still pack a ton of flavor. This recipe is one them.

I also like to use fancy-sounding pasta to make my simple dishes look fancy.

Here's what you are going to need-

6 slices of thick cut bacon, chopped

8 ounces dried gemelli (penne or rigatoni works if you can't find gemelli)
1 lb broccoli, coarsely chopped
4-5 garlic cloves, sliced
1 can of chickpeas
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
fresh grated parmesan for garnish

Directions:
1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add pasta. Place broccoli in a steamer basket, steam over pasta for 4 minutes. Remove from heat, set aside. Continue cooking pasta according to package directions. Reserve 3/4 cup of pasta water. Drain pasta and set aside.
2. Cook bacon in a large pan with wide sides over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove from heat with a slotted spoon.
3. Add garlic and chickpeas to bacon drippings in pan. Cook until garlic is golden brown, about 2 minutes.
4. Add broccoli, pasta, bacon, reserved pasta water, salt, and pepper to pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until mixture is heated through.

How easy was that?!

Garnish with fresh grated cheese.

The whole shebang takes about 30 minutes. It's a fast one! Good for weeknights when you don't have a lot of time. This dish serves 4, so I have leftovers for lunch the next day. For leftovers, I eat this cold, like a pasta salad. It's so good that way, I always look forward to this.

I'm thinking about it right now, in fact. Pasta salad for breakfast? That's not weird right?