This Ligurian walnut sauce goes astonishingly well with ravioli and other meatless stuffed pastas. Ravioli with walnut sauce are rich, so they’re best suited for a midday meal (such as Sunday dinner), during the winter.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup of shelled, peeled, and minced walnut meats
- 1 1/4 cups (300 ml) milk
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 4 tablespoons flour
- Salt and ground white pepper to taste
- About a 1 1/2 pounds (700 g) fresh store-bought or home-made ravioli or other meat-free stuffed pasta
Preparation:
To prepare the walnuts, shell them, scald the nutmeats in boiling water for a few seconds, then peel and mince them.
Make a béchamel sauce by melting the butter in a small pot and carefully stirring in the flour. Continue cooking over low heat till the flour’s lightly browned, then, slowly add the milk in a thin stream, stirring briskly to keep lumps from forming. If they do (and they may well), stop adding milk, remove the pan from the fire, and stir the mixture till the lumps are gone before adding more milk. When you’ve added all the milk, season with salt and pepper and continue cooking, stirring gently, till the sauce thickens (this will take several minutes). Then add the walnuts.
You can also make the béchamel sauce in a microwave oven: melt the butter and stir in the flour, then stir in the milk and the salt and pepper. Heat the sauce over high heat for 2 minutes and stir it briskly till most of the lumps are gone. Heat it for four more minutes at medium power, stirring after two, then stir in the walnuts and heat a last minute. Let it sit for a couple of minutes.
In either case, cook the ravioli in boiling salted water, drain them, and carefully stir the sauce into them to keep them from breaking.
This volume of sauce will be sufficient for enough ravioli for 4.
A wine? Since this is Ligurian, I would go with a Pigato or a Vermentino, both of which are whites.
Yield: walnut sauce for Ravioli to serve 4.
Make a béchamel sauce by melting the butter in a small pot and carefully stirring in the flour. Continue cooking over low heat till the flour’s lightly browned, then, slowly add the milk in a thin stream, stirring briskly to keep lumps from forming. If they do (and they may well), stop adding milk, remove the pan from the fire, and stir the mixture till the lumps are gone before adding more milk. When you’ve added all the milk, season with salt and pepper and continue cooking, stirring gently, till the sauce thickens (this will take several minutes). Then add the walnuts.
You can also make the béchamel sauce in a microwave oven: melt the butter and stir in the flour, then stir in the milk and the salt and pepper. Heat the sauce over high heat for 2 minutes and stir it briskly till most of the lumps are gone. Heat it for four more minutes at medium power, stirring after two, then stir in the walnuts and heat a last minute. Let it sit for a couple of minutes.
In either case, cook the ravioli in boiling salted water, drain them, and carefully stir the sauce into them to keep them from breaking.
This volume of sauce will be sufficient for enough ravioli for 4.
A wine? Since this is Ligurian, I would go with a Pigato or a Vermentino, both of which are whites.
Yield: walnut sauce for Ravioli to serve 4.
