Marks & Spencers Delicious Salads

Marks & Sparks must be the prepared salad kings of the British high street/supermarkets.  Such a range of foods they have on offer for lunchtime and very tempting meal deals.  Their prepared salads are always so fresh and full of flavour.  They sell boxed tubs of salads, many of which are on a 2 for £3 mix and match deal.  These come ready dressed or with an accompanying  pot of dressing.  In this post I will share some of my favourites in their range.  They add new ones all the time too, so am always on the look out for them!  They had a nice one called a shaker salad but haven't seen it for a while.

A light salad, especially considering it is a pasta one.  Orzo is more like a grain than pasta and is very nice.  The salad itself contains juicy sundried tomatoes and a basil dressing.  It is a bright and colourful salad, the yellow Orzo stained with turmeric has a lovely contrast with the bright red tomatoes.  It was a little oily for me but still very enjoyable and packed full of flavour.  Really must look out for Orzo would be great to have for a change and like the idea of it in a herby minestrone soup. 

The nutty whole-grains salad has so many ingredients, the bulk of it is quinoa and bulgur wheat.  With it you get a little pot of chilli and coriander dressing which is delicious.  Salad is crammed full of pinto beans, raw broccoli, almonds, roasted peanuts, carrot, fresh peas, pumpkin seeds and green beans.  Full of flavour, different textures and surprisingly filling.

 This is their Edamame Soya Bean Salad.  It comes with a pot of chilli and coriander dressing.  It has some mixed leaves, mainly rocket. It is jam packed full of Edamame beans, sugarsnap pea's and crunchy green beans.  It is a very light, green and fresh tasting salad. 

Another filling salad- Wheatberries & Giant Couscous With Butternut Squash.  This is a bright and rustic looking one with colourful roast veg including peppers, red onion and vibrant orange squash.  It is ready dressed and flavoursome.  The main part of this salad, is the wheatberries which are like barley and the giant cous-cous- a definite winner and it has a totally different texture to ordinary.  There is a pleasant sweet edge coming from this salad due to the addition of the caramelised roast veg.  Enjoy the addition of fresh herbs in this.

Not a 2 for £3 salad but one of the nicest things I have eaten in ages.  What a beautiful salad.  So much in it and the carrot dip was light as air, with a whipped sort of texture.  It was so flavoursome, would liken it to a carrot houmous.  The couscous on the bottom is mixed with lots of veg such as pepper and carrot.  Mixed leaves are dressed and there are large chunks of roasted squash to top it all off.  Squash roasted in harissa.  Moroccan flavours come through as spices are incorporated in the cous-cous along with pomegranate and chickpeas.  A flavour explosion and very filling- ended up saving some for later!  After watching Yotam Ottalenghi's programme last year, it has really encouraged me to eat more Moroccan style food and introduced me to many recipes.  It is a cuisine I really love, especially during the summer.  Such simple food, which is often the best.  Was fantastic seeing him in Jerusalem trying their version of street food, warmed houmous which is often topped and served with bread.

Gone But Not Forgotten....

Was disappointed when one of their seasonal special salad boxes didn't appear in 2012. It was a beautiful one that was sold as a Christmas special in 2011. It was a clementine, maple, cinnamon and cranberry salad. That sounds very sweet, but it wasn't at all. Very fruity and full of flavour with its festive spicing. It contained lots of grains and crunchy veg.