A fresh summer dinner recipe with Shaw’s Supermarket.

When tasked with the job of creating a delicious summer meal, a lot of fresh vegetables–and those that are prolific locally this time of year–come to mind. Now, I know that in order to make it more palatable for the little ones, a starch of some sort is sometimes a necessity unless I’m ready to go toe-to-toe all dinnertime long (mind you, sometimes I am; but only sometimes). Throw in some pasta for the kids, and everyone’s happy. This summer dish is one I’ve made for years, and though it follows no recipe–and changes a bit every time I make it–I’m going to try my best to come up with one so long as you know that there’s a lot of freedom with it, and you should tweak it however suits you. I bought everything for this at our local Shaw’s Supermarket, using their high quality Signature line™ of products like Signature Select™ pasta, their Signature Cafe® whole roasted chicken, Signature Farms® baby carrots, and fresh baby spinach, all items exclusive to Shaw’s Markets. Let’s get cooking.  The Signature Farms Spinach clamshell was super fresh — not even one of those sort of slimy pieces you can sometimes find in these clamshells (you know the ones).Also, the Signature Cafe roast chicken? An employee was there when I grabbed it and told me it was fresh and just added to the warmer today. Those are convenient for summer dinners when you need some chicken and you forgot to defrost your own in time.Couldn’t wait to dig into the baby carrots.Here I am, mask and all (MA law, at the moment!), checking out the options. Onto find the rest of the ingredients. Then home to cook!Start with a lot of olive oil simmering in your pan. This is the only “sauce” so to speak in the whole meal (though, you could reserve a bit of pasta water to add as well) so be liberal with it. And then mince your garlic to add to the hot (but not too hot — garlic scalds easily!) oil. Sautéing it for a bit on low heat before adding the rest of your vegetables will really give the oil, and your whole dish (oh, and your breath too!), a really great garlic flavor. I used three squash–two zucchini and one summer squash–for the meal. This is all for one pound of pasta. You could make it lighter or heavier on the veggies. These go in next. The grape tomatoes will be last as they cook quickly, and you only want to slightly blister the outside skin, keeping the tomato mostly intact.  Pasta water-facial time! While your pasta was boiling, pull apart your roasted chicken. Pulled chicken is, to my mind, the very best texture of chicken to eat over diced or any other form. I will fight someone on this. Put your pasta into your serving bowl and then throw more spinach in than you think. The heat from the pasta will just slightly wilt it. That’s my preference, anyway. Then toss it with the rest of your ingredients. The pan should have your oil with all the fresh garlic flavor, your squash, and your grape tomatoes. Then throw in some diced up carrots for crunch (I was going to sauté them, but decided to add them fresh at the end). Toss it all together, add your pulled chicken, and then some salt to the whole dish. Oh, and don’t forget the grated pecorino romano! This meal really comes together pretty quickly and is a crowd-pleaser. It can easily be doubled or tripled with more (and a different variety) of vegetables to suit you. Thank you to Shaw’s Supermarket for the fantastic Signature SELECT items exclusive to Shaw’s in my local area that went into this meal. I was happy to see everything in stock and looking really fresh. Shaw’s is your one-stop, summer meal solution destination delivering quality, authentic flavors from fresh departments and every aisle in between. Check out the below video for more on the recipe (and the official taste test from Steve).

You can also find these ingredients exclusively at any Albertsons Companies family of stores, including Safeway, ACME Markets, Jewel-Osco, Vons, Pavilions, Randalls, Tom Thumb, Star Market, United Supermarkets and Carrs/Safeway.

Summer Vegetable Pasta Dish

1 lb. pasta (your preference; I used rotini)
Olive oil
4-5 garlic cloves (depending on size), minced
3-4 zucchini/squash depending on the size, sliced
about 5 cups of Signature Farms baby spinach
1 cup of sliced Signature Farms baby carrots
1/2 cup Signature Farms sliced grape tomatoes
1 Signature Cafe whole roasted chicken, pulled apart (compost rest)
Pecorino Romano, grated (up to you how much!)
Salt

Pour a good amount of olive oil into a pan on low heat. When I say good amount, at least half a cup. Get it nice and warm (not too warm–garlic burns easily!) and mince your garlic. Then add to the oil. Let that sauté on low for about 5 minutes. Careful not to let it burn. Add your sliced squash. Let that cook on low for another 5-7 minutes. Watch and keep stirring. Then add your halved grape tomatoes. Stir and remove from heat after about a minute. Cook your pasta according to directions. Once that is done, add it to your serving bowl and while hot, add your fresh spinach right to it. Then add the sautéed veggies. Toss and add a little bit more olive oil if necessary. Add your sliced carrots, a nice grating of cheese, and sprinkle some salt on top. Bon Appetit!

This post is sponsored by Shaw’s. Thank you so much for reading!