The walnut is a nut I frequently take pleasure in, however till now I’d by no means used it in a meal as a hero ingredient. Then I examine Ligurian salsa di noci and it caught my consideration as a result of it appeared like a garlicky, walnutty bread sauce. Now, I actually love bread sauce, and ever since I made Delia’s circa 1999, I’ve been questioning how I may eat extra of it with my foremost meals. With out eager to offend the Italians, or the Brits, this isn’t bread sauce: it’s silkier and nuttier, and it’s stunning blended with twisted trofie pasta and topped with peppery and pungent recent oregano.
Walnut and bread sauce pasta
You’ll want a meals processor and recent oregano, which isn’t at all times simple to seek out – when you can’t discover it, sub in chopped parsley.
Prep 5 min
Prepare dinner 45 min
Serves 4
50g ciabatta, or different good white bread
100ml entire oat milk
150g shelled walnut halves
150ml olive oil, plus further to complete
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
15g dietary yeast
1½ tsp nice sea salt, plus further for the pasta water
1 tsp freshly floor black pepper
Roughly grated zest of 1 lemon, plus 1 tbsp lemon juice
300g trofie, or related pasta
10g recent oregano, leaves picked and chopped
Tear up the bread, put it in a small bowl, pour over the oat milk and go away to soak for 10 minutes. Switch the bread combine to a meals processor, add the walnuts, oil, garlic, dietary yeast, salt, pepper, and lemon zest and juice, then mix to a principally easy sauce studded with a couple of small, crunchy, nutty bits for good measure.
Prepare dinner the pasta in boiling, well-salted water (I used two teaspoons of salt for 2 litres of water) in keeping with the packet directions, or till al dente. Simply earlier than the pasta has completed cooking, scoop out a mug of the starchy cooking water and put to at least one aspect. Drain the pasta properly.
Put the pasta again within the empty pan on a low warmth, then add the walnut and bread sauce and 100ml (about seven tablespoons) of the reserved cooking water. Toss for a couple of minutes, till the sauce turns creamy and coats the pasta.
Stir within the oregano, then distribute between plates or shallow bowls, and serve topped with a drizzle extra olive oil, if you want.
