Walnut Ricotta Pesto

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 25 basil leaves
• 60 g ricotta
• 1 handful of walnuts
• 1 tbsp cashews, optional
• 1 garlic clove(s), medium to large
• 4 tbsp walnut oil or olive oil, sunflower oil, etc.
• 1 ½ tbsp, leveled Parmesan
• 1 ½ tbsp tomato paste
• 2 pinch(s) sugar or 1 tbsp honey
• 2 pinches of salt
• 1 pinch(s) of pepper

Instructions

Working time approx. 10 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 5 minutes; Total time approx. 15 minutes

simple, super tasty and of course vegetarian

Peel the garlic and roast it in a pan with the walnuts and cashews over medium-high heat. This will give the nuts a wonderful aroma and slightly subdue the sharp flavor you’d expect from fresh garlic. Once everything is nicely roasted, let the nuts and garlic cool slightly and add them to a blender (or a bowl or hand blender) with the other ingredients. Blend/puree everything until you reach the desired consistency. Personally, I like it to still have a bit of bite, meaning a few pieces of the nuts are still intact. Add a little more oil if it’s too solid. And the pesto is ready! Very important: Taste the pesto and adjust the seasoning if necessary! Everyone’s taste is different. This recipe is intended only as a basis. Each of the ingredients can, of course, be adapted to your liking. For example, for a creamier, less nutty flavor, use more ricotta. You can now either eat this delicious pesto straight away or, I recommend letting it sit overnight. Because I use a lot of flavors in this recipe, they develop beautifully over time, making the pesto even more intense. To make the pesto last longer, you can add a little balsamic vinegar and store it in an airtight jar. I recommend using pasta that doesn’t absorb too much of the sauce, since we don’t have much of it. Fusilli, for example, wouldn’t be suitable. Spaghetti, linguine, or even penne work wonderfully here. This pesto for 2 servings is enough for about 400-500g of pasta.