Catching up with one from last week. I made the Nut Ragù on p 71 and used it to make the last recipe in the book: Pasta with Roasted Winter Squash and Nut Ragu. I liked the nutty texture of the ragu but with the roasted squash and tomatoes in the ragu, the finished pasta skews sweet for me. It was fine but could be better.
Nut Ragu
I’ve seen a lot of recipes for walnut and mushroom ragu but this one is just nuts - all kinds of nuts! There are almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, pistachios and walnuts. They’re all chopped and get toasted with garlic in oil on the stovetop. Fresh thyme, rosemary, chile flakes, tomato paste and crushed tomatoes are added and the pot goes into the oven for a couple of hours. A portion is blended and returned to the pot. I didn’t want it to look like nuts in sauce so I may have blended too much as, in the end, I liked the nutty texture. Between the nuts and the oil, it’s pretty rich. I’ve got those six servings of the ragu to play around with.
Pasta with Roasted Winter Squash and Nut Ragu
This is basically pasta, finished in the ragu, with cubes of roasted butternut squash and garnished with fried sage leaves. The texture of the nutty ragu, chewy pasta and tender squash is excellent. The book recommends serving this with ricotta salata. I tried some feta as a sub but it was a bit too rich and salty as I’d already used a good amount of salted pasta water to finish cooking the pasta. It does need a jolt of something tangy, I’d just need to balance the salt better.
Edited to add that I’m thinking some pickle-y, spicy thing would be the ticket.
