Thursday 24 September 2015

Pasta with Walnut Sauce

Pasta with walnut sauce

Autumn has arrived so I thought I'd mark the occasion with this wonderful pasta dish. Walnut sauce (salsa di noci) originates from Liguria and is traditionally prepared in autumn when the nuts are harvested. It has a delicate taste but is rich and filling at the same time, perfect for colder evenings, with the added benefit of being full of healthy omega-3.

Every village and town has a slightly different way of making the sauce but all recipes include bread and milk. I've used the sauce with penne here but you can use any pasta you want really; in Liguria, it's usually served with filled pasta. 

As it's a great way of using up leftover bread and milk, I'm sending this over to Foodie Quine, this month's host of No Waste Food Challenge, overseen by Elizabeth at Elizabeth's Kitchen.

Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary                         Credit Crunch Munch
I'm also entering it into Credit Crunch Munch, co-hosted by Camilla At Fab Food 4 All and Helen over at Fuss Free Flavours. 


RECIPE

30g bread, without crusts (you can use white, wholemeal, or whatever you happen to have)
160ml whole milk
160g shelled walnuts
1 clove garlic
20g pine nuts
30g parmesan, grated
4g marjoram
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Start by roughly tearing up the bread and place in a bowl with the milk, leaving it to soak.

Put all the other ingredients (walnuts, garlic, pine nuts, parmesan, marjoram and oil) in a food processor and whizz together until smooth. 

Remove the bread from the milk, squeezing out any excess and add to the food processor. Pulse to mix everything together. 

Add salt to taste and thin it down with the leftover milk if you think it's too thick.

Serve with any kind of cooked pasta. It's also nice spread on toasted bread.

Pasta con salsa di noci


11 comments:

  1. I love this recipe, super frugal with the bread, and also so healthy as it is not packed with cream. I was in Italy last week, and will be making my variation on this soon. Thanks for sharing with Credit Crunch Munch.

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    1. The traditional recipes for the Salsa di noci never use cream, it masks the flavour of the walnuts too much. Look forward to seeing your variation, hope you had a great trip in Italy!

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  2. This sounds delicious and majoram is a herb I never use so I'd love to try this! Thanks for a great #CreditCrunchMunch entry:-)

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    1. Thank you Camilla! Marjoram is an unusual herb but it's really delicious!

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  4. What a fantastic idea! I've always got stale bread kicking about. Thanks for linking up to the #NoWasteFoodChallenge

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    1. Yes, it's great way of using up old bread - thanks Claire.

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  5. This sounds like the perfect comfort food, ideal for after a long Autumnal hillwalk . Gorgeous! Thank you for sharing with the No Waste Food Challenge!

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    1. Ooh yes, perfect after an autumn walk, even the colours of the dish look quite autumnal! Thank you!

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  6. Ooh this sounds delicious and perfect autumnal fare. I've made walnut pestos before, but not come across adding bread and milk.

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    1. Yes the bread and milk definitely makes it more of a sauce rather than a pesto although I love both!

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