Walnut sauce
Salsa di noci is the Ligurian sauce served in Genoa over pansoti — triangular ravioli filled with greens — and over other pasta such as trofie. It is walnuts blended with bread soaked in milk, garlic, Parmesan, marjoram and olive oil into a creamy, delicate paste. It is not cooked — it takes under half an hour in a food processor or, traditionally, a mortar. The bread gives creaminess and the milk softens the garlic. It is enough for 400 g of pasta.
Your own work in that: 10 min.
- Soaking the bread 10 min
- Preparing the walnuts 10 min
- Blending 10 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneSoak the bread
Pour the milk over the bread and leave 10 minutes to soak.
Ingredients: 150 g fresh walnuts · 30 g white bread, crusts removed · 100 ml milk · ½ clove garlic · 30 g Parmesan, grated · 1 tsp marjoram (fresh or dried) · 60 ml mild olive oil · ½ tsp salt
Bread in milk — it makes the sauce creamy.Check the walnuts
Taste the walnuts — bitter or rancid ones spoil the sauce. For a very pale, mild sauce, cover them with boiling water for 2–3 minutes, drain and peel off the thin brown skins with your fingers or a small knife. It is fiddly (about half an hour), but that is how the sauce is made in Liguria.
Ingredients: 150 g fresh walnuts · 30 g white bread, crusts removed · 100 ml milk · ½ clove garlic · 30 g Parmesan, grated · 1 tsp marjoram (fresh or dried) · 60 ml mild olive oil · ½ tsp salt
Squeeze the bread
Squeeze the bread lightly by hand and keep the milk.
Ingredients: 150 g fresh walnuts · 30 g white bread, crusts removed · 100 ml milk · ½ clove garlic · 30 g Parmesan, grated · 1 tsp marjoram (fresh or dried) · 60 ml mild olive oil · ½ tsp salt
Blend the walnuts
Blend the walnuts with the bread, garlic, marjoram and salt in a food processor to a thick paste.
Ingredients: 150 g fresh walnuts · 30 g white bread, crusts removed · 100 ml milk · ½ clove garlic · 30 g Parmesan, grated · 1 tsp marjoram (fresh or dried) · 60 ml mild olive oil · ½ tsp salt
Walnuts with bread — the base of the sauce.Add the Parmesan
Add the Parmesan and blend briefly.
Ingredients: 150 g fresh walnuts · 30 g white bread, crusts removed · 100 ml milk · ½ clove garlic · 30 g Parmesan, grated · 1 tsp marjoram (fresh or dried) · 60 ml mild olive oil · ½ tsp salt
Pour in the oil
With the processor running, pour in the oil in a thin stream until the sauce turns creamy.
Ingredients: 150 g fresh walnuts · 30 g white bread, crusts removed · 100 ml milk · ½ clove garlic · 30 g Parmesan, grated · 1 tsp marjoram (fresh or dried) · 60 ml mild olive oil · ½ tsp salt
Oil in a thin stream — a smooth sauce.Thin with milk
Add the reserved milk a spoonful at a time until the sauce is like thick cream. Taste and adjust the salt.
Ingredients: 150 g fresh walnuts · 30 g white bread, crusts removed · 100 ml milk · ½ clove garlic · 30 g Parmesan, grated · 1 tsp marjoram (fresh or dried) · 60 ml mild olive oil · ½ tsp salt
Serve with pasta
Cook the pasta al dente and toss it with the sauce off the heat, loosening it with 2–3 tablespoons of the cooking water. Do not heat the sauce on the hob — it thickens and loses the fresh walnut flavour.
Ingredients: 400 g pasta, such as trofie or pansoti (optional)
Before you start
With pansoti
Traditionally the sauce goes with pansoti — ravioli filled with greens and ricotta. It is just as good with trofie, tagliatelle and gnocchi.
In a mortar
Pounded in a mortar, the sauce has a more rustic, textured feel — and that is how it was traditionally made. It takes about 15 minutes.
Storage
A sauce with milk, cheese and raw garlic keeps at most 3 days in the fridge in a sealed jar. It can also be frozen.