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Pesto Pasta Salad

Pesto Pasta Salad

Beginner15 mins · serves 2 · hob

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Method

  1. 1

    Salted water on, pasta in, and cook it a minute past al dente because it tightens as it cools.

  2. 2

    Put the spinach in the colander before you drain. The boiling water wilts it on the way past, which saves a pan and keeps it from being raw and squeaky in a cold salad.

  3. 3

    Run the lot under the cold tap until cold, then shake it as dry as you can get it. Water clinging to the pasta turns pesto into a pale slick.

  4. 4

    Loosen the pesto in the bowl with the olive oil and the lemon juice before the pasta goes anywhere near it. Straight from the jar it is too thick to coat cold pasta and you end up using twice as much.

  5. 5

    Pasta and spinach in, tomatoes last so they are not crushed on the way, then the pepper and a good mix.

  6. 6

    Taste before you season. Pesto carries a lot of salt of its own.