Ravioli with walnut sauce: the recipe.
The variation on the more classic pansotti are lean ravioli with walnut sauce. A typical Ligurian dish with an unmistakable taste.

Outside our area I have seen this sauce prepared in many ways but here, or rather, in our coastal hinterland, the walnut sauce is accompanied by the even more classic "pansotti" or "pansoti": vegetable ravioli or ravioloni of different shapes that can be small like ravioli or large and closed like tortelloni but, in any case, prepared with the typical Ligurian low-egg pasta and stuffed with wild herbs, ricotta, eggs and grated cheese.
This pasta was born in Rapallo and its hinterland and then spread throughout the province of Genoa. I have a fond memory of the Valle family who had an old and small restaurant in the Ne' valley, in Frisolino. The grandfather was a wise expert on hunting and his countryside (very well known throughout the valley and in Chiavari). The first son who also helped in the restaurant, the second son a bachelor, a specialist in preparing rabbit, and little Enrico who is now a grown man, married with a family. The pearl of this group of men was Enrico’s mother, wife of the first son, a great cook of the poor and very tasty cuisine of the hinterland. Now that the restaurant no longer exists and that the whole family group is cooking in the valleys of paradise, before talking about the dishes that Mrs. Valle prepared, I can tell you some anecdotes…

English: You couldn’t think of “da Valle” as a real trattoria but rather as a family reunion with other guests/friends and these memories are very vivid because over the years I’ve had all sorts of things: the cutlery was all assorted, like the napkins and it could happen that, like the tablecloths, they were holed or broken but still very clean. Another time, when I had guests, we were greeted by the uncle who prepared the rabbit, sitting on the entrance step, who was putting on his shoes and who, unperturbed, greeted us saying that the rabbit was ready… Between all of them, Enrico aside, they must have had about thirty teeth. The public relations were by the grandfather and the very clever Enrico while the first son waited tables. The greatness of this place consisted in the cuisine, in the poor ingredients, in the parsimony of the oil made in the family but especially in the great mastery of that woman who prepared excellent things with little. The menu was always the same: an appetizer of homemade cold cuts, pansotti with walnut sauce, ravioli with sauce in which you often saw a colombina or another mushroom added to enrich the sauce, roast or cima or mixed fried meat (a little) and vegetables (lots and delicious) and a homemade dessert.

The pansotti were made like ravioli but twice as long and a little wider and the sauce had a scent which is the trick that is never mentioned in its preparation.

Adesso torniamo alla salsa di noci. Per la sua praparazione necessitiamo di buone noci, pane ammollato nel latte e poi strizzato, poco aglio e poi l’aroma finale… a me piace pestare tutto nel mortaio ma si può usare anche il frullatore ad immersione ma poco alla volta per non scaldare la salsa. Io immergo per una trentina di secondi i gherigli nell’acqua bollente e appena tolti li metto subito sotto l’acqua fredda per poi pelarli con maggiore facilità. Intanto strizzo la mollica di pane messa a bagno nel latte e l’aggiungo alle noci, un poco d’aglio senza l’anima interna, poco sale e l’aroma tipico ligure, la erba persa, che a me piace abbondante. Proprio come faceva la signora Valle. Dopo aver pestato bene ed amalgamato il tutto mescolandolo con ottimo olio extravergine d’oliva ligure e la salsa è pronta. A me non piace aggiungere, come fanno in molti, il formaggio grattugiato per insaporire ed allungare la salsa ma allungarla con mezzo cucchiaio d’acqua di cottura e poi ma mettere il formaggio sulla pasta dopo averla servita. Buon appetito!

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Photo taken with Canon 600D and lens Canon EF 40.

Ravioli with walnut sauce: the recipe – Raviolis sauce aux noix : la recette – Ravioli con salsa de nueces: la receta – Ravioli com molho de nozes: a receita – Ravioli mit Walnusssauce: das Rezept – Ravioli với sốt óc chó: công thức – 核桃酱馄饨：食谱 – クルミソースのラビオリ：レシピ