Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for walnut pasta with oregano | Vegan foods and drinks

The walnut is a nut I ceaselessly experience, however till now I’d by no means used it in a meal as a hero element. Then I examine Ligurian salsa di noci and it stuck my consideration as it gave the impression of a garlicky, walnutty bread sauce. Now, I in point of fact love bread sauce, and ever since I made Delia’s circa 1999, I’ve been questioning how I may just consume extra of it with my major foods. With out short of to offend the Italians, or the Brits, this isn’t bread sauce: it’s silkier and nuttier, and it’s stunning combined with twisted trofie pasta and crowned with peppery and smelly contemporary oregano.

Walnut and bread sauce pasta

You’ll desire a meals processor and contemporary oregano, which isn’t at all times simple to search out – if you’ll’t in finding it, sub in chopped parsley.

Prep 5 min
Prepare dinner 45 min
Serves 4

50g ciabatta, or different excellent white bread
100ml entire oat milk
150g shelled walnut halves
150ml olive oil, plus further to complete
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
15g dietary yeast
1½ tsp nice sea salt, plus further for the pasta water
1 tsp freshly flooring black pepper
More or less grated zest of one lemon, plus 1 tbsp lemon juice
300g trofie, or equivalent pasta
10g contemporary oregano, leaves picked and chopped

Tear up the bread, put it in a small bowl, pour over the oat milk and go away to soak for 10 mins. Switch the bread combine to a meals processor, upload the walnuts, oil, garlic, dietary yeast, salt, pepper, and lemon zest and juice, then mix to a most commonly easy sauce studded with a couple of small, crunchy, nutty bits for excellent measure.

Prepare dinner the pasta in boiling, well-salted water (I used two teaspoons of salt for 2 litres of water) in keeping with the packet directions, or till al dente. Simply prior to the pasta has completed cooking, scoop out a mug of the starchy cooking water and put to 1 aspect. Drain the pasta effectively.

Put the pasta again within the empty pan on a low warmth, then upload the walnut and bread sauce and 100ml (about seven tablespoons) of the reserved cooking water. Toss for a couple of mins, till the sauce turns creamy and coats the pasta.

Stir within the oregano, then distribute between plates or shallow bowls, and serve crowned with a drizzle extra olive oil, if you want.