Salsa di Noci
Salsa di noci is a pale Ligurian walnut sauce, not pesto with basil removed. Walnuts give it body and a faint bitterness; bread and dairy help turn that into a gentle coating for filled pasta.
Fine, creamy and slightly grainy rather than perfectly puréed.
Nutty, milky and gently garlicky.
What the record supports.
Walnut sauce is strongly associated with Liguria and pansoti, the region's herb-filled pasta.
Recipes vary in their use of soaked bread, milk, curd or cream. The stable identity is the pounded walnut base.
Every ingredient has a job.
Walnuts
They provide fat, texture and mild bitterness.
Soaked bread
Bread gives the sauce body without relying on cream alone.
Garlic and cheese
Both sharpen the mild nuts in controlled amounts.
Build it in order.
Fresh walnuts can turn rancid in warm storage. Taste before using and keep opened nuts chilled.
- 01
Blanch and rub walnuts if you want a milder sauce.
- 02
Pound or pulse nuts with garlic and soaked bread.
- 03
Add cheese and enough milk or pasta water for a thick cream.
- 04
Warm only through residual pasta heat.
Pasta that helps.
- Pansoti
- Ravioli
- Trofie
Substitutions
Pecans create a sweeter local nut sauce.
Water can replace milk, but the sauce tastes leaner.
Common mistakes
Using rancid walnuts
Boiling the finished sauce
Overloading it with raw garlic
Storage and freezing
Refrigerate for 2 days.
Freeze without dairy for 1 month.
Loosen with hot pasta water rather than simmering.
Dairy and bread proportions differ by household.
Herb additions are modern variations.
Put the technique to work.
Sources and method
Scholarly consensusLiguria regional food referenceAssociation with Liguria and filled pasta