Walnut Sauce For Pasta Recipes

Steps:

• Put a large saucepan of water on to boil, and toast the walnuts in a dry frying pan until they begin to make a nutty aroma. Put the bread in a bowl and cover with the milk. Put most of the toasted walnuts (reserving about 1 ounce for garnish) into a blender along with the garlic, bread soaked in milk, and Parmesan. Blend until it turns smooth and creamy, then pour in the oil and season well with salt and pepper before blending again.
• Pour into a bowl, and set aside.
• Add pasta to boiling water with salt and cook for the required amount of time. When pasta is al dente, reserve a cup of the pasta cooking liquid and then drain the pasta, but put it in to a large bowl while it's still dripping slightly with water. Sprinkle a little olive oil over the pasta to prevent it sticking together, and then add the walnut sauce, mixing it into the pasta (splash in a little pasta cooking liquid to make the sauce less thick if needed).
• Roughly chop the remaining walnuts and toss them over the top along with some more Parmesan and the chopped parsley.

Steps:

• Turn on a food processor fitted with the steel blade, and drop in the garlic. When it is chopped and adhering to the sides of the bowl, turn off and scrape down the bowl. Add the walnuts and bread crumbs, and process to a paste. Add the ricotta, 2 tablespoons warm water and Parmesan. Pulse until well blended. Add the olive and walnut oils, and process until smooth and homogenous. Taste and add salt as desired. Transfer to a wide pasta bowl.
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Fill a bowl with ice water. When the water comes to a boil, salt generously and add the broccoli raab or broccoli. Boil four to five minutes, until tender but still bright. Transfer to the ice water. Drain and chop broccoli raab medium-fine (regular broccoli need not be chopped). Set aside.
• Bring the water back to a boil and cook the pasta al dente, following the timing instructions on the package but checking a minute or two before the indicated cooking time. Before draining the pasta, add 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water to the ricotta mixture and stir until well blended. The sauce should have a creamy consistency (add more of the pasta water if necessary). Just before draining the pasta, add the broccoli raab or broccoli back into the pot with the pasta to heat, then drain. Toss at once with the sauce, and serve, passing Parmesan or Pecorino on the side.

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. When the water's boiling, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water, then drain.
• While the pasta's cooking, in a large Dutch oven, stir together the olive oil, walnuts and olives. Set over medium heat and cook, stirring often, until fragrant and the walnuts are toasted, 3 to 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, finely grate in the garlic clove and season with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Stir to combine.
• Add the pasta and 1/4 cup pasta water to the walnut mixture. Cook over medium-low, stirring and adding pasta water as needed, until the pasta is well coated. Remove from heat and stir in half the lemon zest and all the lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper and more lemon zest.