Pasta with Walnut Sauce is a surprisingly delicious meatless dish made with toasted walnuts, garlic, and lots of fresh creamy ricotta, and it’s ready in 30 minutes!
Every once in a while a dish will stand out as being really unusual, and really memorable. This is one of them. I’m guessing you’ve never had a pasta quite like this. The nuts take center stage, backed up by a creamy sauce of ricotta, with a twinge of garlic, a hit of Parmesan, and a fresh burst of parsley.
It’s not a deal breaker, but freshly made ricotta really makes this pasta special. And in the time it takes you to bring a half gallon of milk to a simmer, you can have a fresh batch of homemade cheese.
For full instructions see my How to Make Homemade Ricotta Cheese.
This is one of those recipes where there are only a few ingredients, so there’s no reason they can’t all be top quality. Don’t use the crumpled bag of chopped walnuts leftover from your last brownie binge. And invest in a chunk of real Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. It’ll make all the difference.
Pasta with Walnut Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups walnut halves
- 1 clove garlic
- handful of fresh parsley leaves
- 2 cups miniature penne, measure before cooking
- 1 cup whole milk ricotta, freshly made if possible
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- milk, cream, or reserved pasta cooking water for thinning the sauce
- salt and freshly cracked pepper
Instructions
- Set oven to 350F
- Spread the nuts on a baking sheet roast for about 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until the nuts are fragrant and starting to brown. Set them aside to cool on the pan.
- Put the garlic and parsley in the bowl of a small food processor and pulse until both are finely minced. Add in the nuts and pulse until the nuts are well ground. There should be some variation in the size of the pieces, but you want the nuts to be well chopped. There should be a range of small walnut pieces all the way down to walnut dust (see above.) Reserve a couple of tablespoons of the nut mixture for a garnish.
- Cook the pasta to just al dente. Drain and return to the pan. (Reserve a little of the cooking water)
- Add in the ricotta and the Parmesan and toss well.
- Add in the walnut mixture and thin the sauce with a little milk, cream, or reserved pasta water, if necessary. Bring everything up to temperature gently, and season with salt and pepper. Serve hot, garnished with the reserved nuts.
the only nut i’ve ever associated with pasta is pine nuts, and i like that combination a lot. i’m thrilled by this revelation, sue–what a tasty idea!
This looks so decadent! In a good way! Interesting combination. I love pasta and nuts together.
I’ve never had a pasta like that, for sure. How unique! I will HAVE to try this. Walnuts and that rich, nutty pasta sound like a delicious combination.
Your pasta dish looks intriguing! You are so right about starting off with good ingredients. For years I was lazy and bought the grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. This past year I’ve purchased the chunks and grated them myself… wish I had done this so much sooner; a world of difference!
This dish not only looks good, but sounds awesome. I love using all fresh ingredients, especially in a quality dish as this!
I find creamy sauces are hard to photograph, they never look as good as they really are.
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Sue this looks heavenly…as all of your recipes do! Thanks for the compliment on the lavender. I may have to change my header! I thought about you for 2 reasons this week…1) I had fresh lava beans and figured you, if anyone would know what to do with them. (husband ended up making an amazing puree that we ate on toast points)…..and 2) We won’t be heading up to Wentworth this summer. Hope all is well. You are like my online amazing cookbook!
Wow, I love everything about this dish. I have never made ricotta cheese and this looks like a good reason to do so. I would put nuts in everything if I had my way. This has got it all, Sue. Can’t wait to try it.
I’m the same way about nuts, I want to throw them in everything and I have to hold myself back. I have a nephew who is severely allergic to nuts, and so when we’re together and I can’t cook with them, all I can think about is how much better this dish or that dish would be with nuts!
You’re right…I’ve never had anything like this, bit it looks and sounds delicious!
I think it’s a classic Italian pasta, but one that hasn’t gotten a lot of play in this part of the world.
What a wonderful recipe, Sue. This pushes all my buttons and I really have to give it a try. Have a great weekend. Blessings…Mary
Thanks, Mary, I found the walnuts and garlic flavor to be really good. Hope you try it.
Looks wonderful would love to try!