Summer Pasta

I am forever looking for new uses for the gifts from my garden, especially as Fall draws near. You can only freeze so much, and lets face it, frozen herbs and veggies just don’t taste as good as when they are fresh. I think anyone who has a garden also shares the same overwhelmed feeling as the tomatoes and basil pile up. I did some kitchen experimenting the other night with some of the items from our garden and came up with a Summer Pasta dish that everyone, even the kids, loved! Even better, we were able to use the leftovers from the fantastic Chicken Breasts I made and some of the Tomato Recipe, Original Tipsy taught me.

Here is what you will need for the recipe:

• 1 Box of Angel Hair Pasta
• 2 C of Macerated Tomatoes ~ You can get the recipe for these by CLICKING HERE
• 2 Baked or Grilled Chicken Breasts,  cut into slices. You can make these Chicken Breasts using my recipe, CLICK HERE. You can make the chicken breasts for dinner the day before and use the leftovers for this recipe. You can also use rotisserie chicken.
• 1 Lemon, you will use the zest from this lemon and the juice.
• 2 to 4 C of Arugula/Spinach
• 3 Cloves of Garlic, Peeled and Smashed
• 1 Shallot, Minced
• 1 C of Chinese (Garlic) Chives or Regular Chives, Sliced Thin
• 2 C of Chicken Broth
• Olive Oil For Cooking
• Salt & Pepper
• Parmesan Cheese for garnish
• A handful of Fresh Basil

Arugula and Spinach make this a healthier dish.

Cooking is QUICK and EASY. Once you assemble your ingredients, here is what you need to do:

• Sauté your garlic, shallot and chive in a deep skillet in some olive oil.
• While your garlic, shallot and chives cook, boil your pasta.
• Add your chicken to the skillet and season the mixture with salt and pepper.
• Next squeeze all the juice out of the lemon into the pan and scrape at the bits that come up.
• Add in the spinach/arugula mixture, the lemon zest and the 2 C of Chicken broth. Let this simmer for 10 minutes.

  

• Your pasta should be cooked at this point, do not drain it. You are going to add it to the skillet a little at a time while tossing it with the mixture to make sure all the noodles are coated. You are going to want a little bit of the pasta water from the noodles to get in the skillet as you add the pasta.
• When you have added all the pasta and it is well coated, add one ladle full of the pasta water and let it simmer down for five minutes.
• Add your pasta to bowls and make a small divot in the top. Place your tomato mixture on top, I only use a coupe table spoons to each bowl.
• Use the oil from the tomatoes and drizzle it across the top of the dish.
• Top with parmesan cheese and as many basil leaves as you prefer.
• I like to top this with fresh black pepper.

This dish tastes like Summer in a bowl. All of the different flavors and textures make it so enjoyable to eat. What I like most about this dish is that you can make Original Tipsy’s Tomato Pasta one day for dinner, my Best Chicken Breasts Ever the next, and use the leftovers from them to make this dish. With a few extra ingredients you have yourself a completely different meal. It is also a great Summer Pasta that uses up all your garden yield.

Enjoy the last few weeks of Summer and I hope you are looking forward to all the Fall Foods like I am!

For more food inspiration, follow me on Pinterest at The Tipsy Housewife.

For a Fall Recipe, check out this recipe for Instant Pot Pot Roast