The creamy walnut pesto recipe is very simple to make, it takes just a few minutes and requires no preparation. This quick pesto is ideal for dressing pasta or tasty crostini. I often make this recipe with walnuts left over from the Christmas holidays, an original way to use leftovers and prepare a quick first course.
Unlike other recipes, this one will make the pasta creamy and flavorful, without being dry and too compact. The secret? I’ll explain it in the procedure!
If you like pesto, don’t forget the recipe
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very economical
- Rest time: 2 Minutes
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: No cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 326.25 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 3.24 (g) of which sugars 2.45 (g)
- Proteins 8.81 (g)
- Fat 30.92 (g) of which saturated 3.68 (g)of which unsaturated 1.60 (g)
- Fibers 1.31 (g)
- Sodium 76.13 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 2 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for 4 people
- 5.3 oz walnuts
- 1.8 oz Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Tools
- 1 Mixer
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Knife
- 1 Nutcracker
Procedure
Many walnut pesto recipes recommend using cream and bread, these two ingredients make the pesto fatty and thick. The cream is absorbed by the pasta, resulting in a dry and compact dish. Instead, using some oil and avoiding bread keeps the result creamier and more flavorful.
If the walnuts are old or already shelled for some time, the best way to add flavor to the pesto is to toast them in a hot pan for a couple of minutes.
Toasting the walnuts in the pan will heat the essential oils they contain, resulting in a fragrant walnut pesto.
The flavor of the pesto depends a lot on the walnuts you use; walnuts can have a bitter note, in which case you can blanch them in boiling water for 2 minutes, drain, and remove the outer skin.
You can skip this step in most cases; taste the walnuts first.
When the walnuts are ready, place them in the glass of the mixer or blender, add half the milk, the rest of the ingredients, and blend.
Gradually add the rest of the milk to achieve the desired creaminess of the walnuts, I like it quite creamy, so I use all the milk, especially because tossing the hot pasta in the walnut pesto tends to dry out the liquid part, leaving the pesto more solid.
If the pesto is too dry, add a couple of tablespoons of cooking water.
Now that the pesto is ready, all you have to do is cook the pasta in salted water and, when it’s cooked, toss it in the walnut pesto for a couple of minutes, mix well, and serve.
Your walnut pesto is ready!
Plating Tips:
This is a simple dish, mix the pasta well with the ingredients, the dish should be creamy and not too dry. You can complete the recipe with a few parsley leaves or an extra sprinkle of cheese.
Wine pairing for walnut pesto:
I recommend pairing this recipe with a fresh and savory white wine that can enhance the bitter and crunchy note of the walnut pesto, such as a Ligurian Vermentino.
