Fettucini al Pesto di Noci (Fettucini with Walnut Pesto)

From The Classic Pasta Cookbook, this recipe comes together very quickly. It's worth noting that since the sauce is uncooked, the garlic has much more of an edge to it than usual; I habitually go heavy on the garlic, but in this recipe symbol found that excessive. Thus, I've recorded the garlic as originally written in the recipe and not the 3-4x as much that I actually put in.

It calls for using a "blender or food processor" to prepare the pesto. It did not work particularly well with our blender, so if you have a food processor instead I recommend using that. It was still better than not using the blender at all, although to get any meaningful blending I had to add the cream while it was in the blender rather than folding it in later.

Ingredients, for 450g dry, store-bought pasta

• 250g shelled walnuts
• 5mL finely chopped garlic
• 30mL extra virgin olive oil
• 64mL ricotta
• 64mL heavy cream
• 64mL freshly grated parmesan

Procedure

1. In the background, boil the water for the pasta and cook the pasta al dente; reserve the water.
2. Put the walnuts and garlic in a food processor or blender and blend/chop finely.
3. Add the olive oil and blend in.
4. Add the ricotta and blend in. Season with salt to taste.
5. Transfer to a mixing bowl and stir in the cream.
6. When the pasta is cooked al dente, transfer 64mL of the pasta water to the pesto and stir it in. Drain the pasta.
7. Toss the pasta with the pesto, top with cheese, and serve immediately.