Pansotti con Salsa di Noci

With a bag of walnuts left over from another dish a quick internet search came up with a recipe for Salsa di Noci.  A traditional Ligurian way of serving it is with a pasta known as Pansotti, a ravioli filled with foraged herbs and greens.

Ingredients
serves 4

for the pasta
300g '00' flour
2 eggs
100 g dry white wine
pinch of salt

for the filling
750g preboggion (foraged wild herbs & greens like borage, lovage, sorrel, wild chicory, wild chervil)
250 g prescinseua cheese (alternatively use 175g stracchino / 75g ricotta) 
50 g pecorino, finely grated
1 garlic clove
1 tbsp marjoram leaves, finely cut
1 egg
salt
pepper
nutmeg

for the sauce
120 g walnuts, 
1 tbsp pine nuts
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
40 g breadcrumbs, day-old white loaf
30 g Pecorino, finely grated
200ml milk
60ml extra virgin olive oil
salt

Method

Begin by making the fresh pasta. Sieve the flour onto a worksurface and make a hole in the middle. Pour in the egg, wine and salt. Mix well and begin kneading. Add a splash of water if required to get a soft and elastic dough. Wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare the filling. 

Wash all the preboggion (foraged greens and herbs) well. Remove any tough stems.  Blanche all the green veg in boiling water for about five minutes. Then drain and squeeze out excess moisture.

Over a medium heat drizzle a little olive oil onto a large frying pan, add the garlic and a pinch of salt. Fry for a minute then add the chopped blanched greens and cook for a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat and place on a chopping board. Allow to cool before you finely chop.

Mix together the prescinsôea cheese, (or ricotta/stracchino) and also the grated pecorino in a large bowl. Add the chopped greens and mix thoroughly. Then add the marjoram and season to taste with a pinch of salt, pepper and nutmeg. Mix really well and set aside 

Then for the walnut sauce. If the walnut kernels still have their skins, quickly blanch them in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain them, let them cool then rub them to remove the skin. 

Soak the breadcrumbs with enough milk.   Place the walnuts and pine nuts a little at a time into a pestle and bash into a paste. Add the soaked breadcrumbs to moisten the paste.  Next add the garlic, then the grated parmesan. 

Pour in a few tablespoons of olive oil to loosen the paste. Add some more milk to obtain a thick smooth creamy consistency. It should be nice a thick sauce but able to pour.

When you are ready to cook, place the dough out on a lightly floured board. Divide it into quarters or eights and roll it out either with a rolling pin or a pasta roller to get a thin sheet of approximately 3 mm. 

Using a pastry cutter to cut out squares with a side of about 7cm then place a heaped teaspoon of the greens filling in the center of each. Leave a 1cm border to close the pansotti. 

Close it by forming a triangle. Press well to prevent them from opening during cooking. 

Place the prepared pansotti on a lightly floured tray covered with a tea towel.

Bring the walnut sauce to a low simmer, stirring often. Be careful not to burn the sauce as it will catch easily. 

In a large saucepan boil plenty of salted water.  Add the pasta and cook for about 3 minutes or more. When they float to the surface they are ready. 

Serve in a large bowl. Pour some walnut sauce in the bottom, add the pansotti, then pour some more sauce over them. 

Add some toasted pine nuts and chopped walnuts and a pinch of freshly ground black pepper.