Fettuccine with walnut & sage pesto

Walnuts make a creamy pasta sauce when blitzed up. This recipe is based on the traditional Ligurian dish salsa di noci (‘walnut sauce’), but with added sage for really aromatic and bold flavour.

SERVES 3 PREP 5 mins COOK 8 mins EASY

V100g walnuts

140ml whole or plant milk

10 sage leaves

1 garlic clove, crushed

250g fettuccine

50g parmesan or vegetarian

alternative, plus extra to serve 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus

extra for drizzling

2 large handfuls of flat-leaf parsley

1 Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Meanwhile, toast the walnuts in a dry frying pan over a medium heat for 3-5 mins until lightly golden to bring out their intense nutty flavour. Remove from the heat and tip into a blender. 2 Warm the milk, sage leaves and garlic in a small pan over a low heat until the milk is steaming – the sage will lightly cook in the milk and the garlic will start to soften. Cooking the sage like this removes the bitterness, but preserves the flavour. Pour the infused milk along with the sage and garlic over the walnuts and leave to stand for 1 min.

3 Stir the fettuccine into the pan of boiling water and cook for around 10 mins, or until al dente. Grate in the cheese and add the oil and parsley to the blender along with a generous pinch each of salt and pepper, then blitz until you have a chunky pesto. Transfer the sauce to a large pan and keep warm over a low heat, stirring so it doesn’t burn. Transfer the fettuccine directly from its cooking water into the sauce using tongs, then toss well, adding a couple of ladlefuls of the water to loosen if needed. Divide between bowls and grate over more parmesan and drizzle with oil.

GOOD TO KNOW calcium • fibre

PER SERVING 727 kcals • fat 46g • saturates 9g •

carbs 51g • sugars 4g • fibre 6g • protein 24g •

salt 0.4g