Lucille's

....A Bit Nutty....

Wouldn’t it be great to live in a town with a Mark Twainish, New England sort of name like Walnut Grove? Well I do! Honest. It suits me because:

  a) it is charming

  b) I’m a bit nutty

  c) I can make WALNUT PASTA SAUCE from all the walnuts which I’ve never actually seen but am sure must be around here somewhere.

Walnut sauce you say? That sounds weird. But no, my pretties, it’s delish. Trust me, and I don’t even like nuts much at all!!! Wilma, don’t try this without your Epipen in hand!

RECIPE

Soak a piece of brown bread in 2/3 cup milk

Toast 1 cup walnuts (whole or pieces) and a few extra for garnishing, in oven or in frying pan

Puree walnuts, bread, milk, 1 clove garlic minced, ¼ cup parmesan cheese and a splash of olive oil

Toss with pasta and at bit of hot cooking water.

Sprinkle with reserved walnuts and chopped fresh parsley.

Of course this will be even tastier atop your homemade pasta. If you’ve never tried making it from scratch you really must! It’s really easy and great fun for kids or guests to help roll it out and cut.

The basic dough is made with:   3 cups flour (use some whole wheat if you must)

                                                                 4 eggs

                                                                 1 TBS. olive oil

                                                                 1 TBS. salt

                                                                 1-2 TBS. water

It is easiest made in a stand mixer as the dough is quite stiff. Mix all till it comes together and knead in your machine or by hand till it is smooth. Then put it in a plastic bag or cover it with a bowl (upside-down silly) for 30 minutes or till later in the day when you get around to it.

Cut the dough in 6 pieces and flatten each of them slightly before dipping them in flour and putting through the rollers of your pasta machine. If you don’t have one, it looks like this. I see them all the time in thrift stores. Keep a lookout.

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You can also roll by hand but you need serious muscle. With the machine, you put it through successively tighter rollers (from 1-5) until the dough is quite thin and long. I lay it out to dry for a bit on the counter or you can also dust it with a bit of flour and then put it through the cutters. Mine has cutters for spaghetti and for fettuccini. You can also leave the dough in long pieces and cut it to size for lasagna, or make ravioli with it.

Another cleverness is to put flavouring/nutrition in the dough; e.g. cooked spinach (yep, it’s green), or tomato paste (red) or lemon zest (great with fish) or orange zest (try with chicken). You may need to use less liquid in your dough if adding vegetables or paste.

The great thing about homemade pasta is that it cooks up really fast….in 2-3 minutes. This recipe makes a pound which will feed 6-8 people generously. If you don’t need it all, just let your cut noodles dry and stick them in the freezer. You can break off bits for your homemade turkey soup!!

Also, you must consider candying your walnuts for salads.

 Just melt a bit of butter in a frying pan, add some brown sugar and your walnuts and stir to coat and sauté until browned and caramelly. Let cool and toss into your lettuce/spinach with some goat cheese and blueberries/strawberries/raspberries. Yummers!!

Oh! I just now had another brilliance. Ice cream with maple syrup topped with your candied walnuts. Or how about waffles with caramelized bananas and walnuts?

Would love to stay and chat, but a walnut tree just called my name……..