Whole Wheat Pasta with Ricotta & Walnuts

This is a no-cook pasta sauce in the truest sense, the kind of dinner Italian home cooks pull out when the weather is too hot to stand at the stove. Room-temperature ricotta, softened butter, walnut oil, and grated Parmesan get stirred together in a bowl, thinned with half-and-half, and warmed only briefly before the hot whole wheat pasta goes in.

The nuttiness of whole wheat pasta is the whole point. Standard semolina pasta would taste flat against the rich ricotta, but the earthy whole-grain noodles match the walnuts and walnut oil and lift the dish.

Resting the ricotta at room temperature is non-negotiable, sorry, is a must. Cold ricotta seizes the moment it hits hot pasta and you end up with grainy curds instead of a silky cream. Pull it out of the fridge half an hour before you start cooking.

Fresh herbs are what make this taste like more than just buttery cheese pasta. Chives, chervil, and parsley keep it bright. If chervil is hard to find, double the parsley and add a teaspoon of fresh tarragon for that anise-y green note.

Kitchen Tips

• Salt the pasta water aggressively, like the sea. The sauce itself is mild, so the noodles need to carry the seasoning.
• Reserve a cup of pasta water before draining. A splash loosens the sauce instantly if it tightens up on the platter.
• Toast the walnuts in a dry skillet for 3 to 4 minutes before chopping. Untoasted walnuts taste raw and slightly tannic against the cream.
• Grate the Parmesan on a microplane, not a box grater. Finer shreds melt cleanly into the sauce instead of going clumpy.

Variations

• Stir in 1 cup of fresh shelled English peas or thinly sliced asparagus during the last minute of pasta cooking for a spring version.
• Add the finely grated zest of a lemon to the ricotta mixture for a brighter, more aromatic sauce.
• Swap walnuts for toasted pecans or pine nuts for a different nut profile.