I have been enjoying Marks and Spencer salads for years. One of their prevailing favourites is the Italian pasta and spinach salad. They describe it as “pasta salad with spinach and pine kernels, tossed in a pesto dressing”. It’s one I really love and basically a cold pesto pasta salad.
I decided to recreate at home one day when I couldn’t face trekking in to town to pick it up from M&S. This is so easy to whip a batch up and while I’ll still pick up a pack when I’m on my own, when I’m with the kids it makes much more financial sense to make it at home. That way we can have enough to all really enjoy it. And this is an Italian pasta salad recipe that all the family will love tucking into.
If you’re a fan of cold pasta salad, this is for you. Super easy to make and perfect for a quick lunch or to pack up as part of a picnic. Best of all, unlike the M&S version, this one is vegan.
So if you’re looking for Italian pasta salad recipes or even a baby spinach salad, this one is for you. This is essentially an Italian cold pasta salad recipe you’ll want time and time again. I think I have been eating it (from M&S) for at least 20 years. It really is delicious.
Ingredients
- 400g pasta – M&S use farfalle pasta from the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy that dates back to the 16th century.
- 40g Baby spinach – washed and dried, cut off stems and then cut leaves into thin strips.
- 80g fresh basil leaves
- 100ml olive oil
- 50g grated vegan hard cheese (inc. 10g to top at the end).
- 60g pine nuts (inc. 20g roughly chopped to stir through).
- 2 garlic cloves
What to do to make this Italian pasta and spinach salad (M&S copycat)
- First make the pesto. You don’t want the pesto to be too thick and heavy like you would for a regular pesto pasta dish. This is lighter, smoother and more oily.
- To make the pesto, combine the pine nuts, cheese, garlic and basil leaves with the oil and blitz in a food processor and create a light pesto.
- Boil the pasta as per the pack instructions, you want it to be al dente so cook for a couple of minutes less than the instructions.
- Remove from the boil, drain, and put the pasta in a mixing bowl. Allow the pasta to cool completely.
- Add the pesto and gently stir it through to ensure all the pasta is covered lightly.
- Add the spinach, 40 grams of chopped pine nuts and sprinkle with some more of the grated vegan cheese and stir through.
- Enjoy
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