Recipes › Parsley › Parsley and Walnut Pesto Pasta with Capers and Lemon
Parsley and Walnut Pesto Pasta with Capers and Lemon
A bright, intensely green pesto built entirely around a generous heap of fresh parsley, blitzed with toasted walnuts, capers, garlic, and lemon. It coats pasta in minutes and tastes far more sophisticated than the effort involved. This is the dish to make when your parsley is bolting and you need to use the whole plant.
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Ingredients
- 120 g fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped, stalks and all
- 60 g walnuts, toasted in a dry pan until goldenor use blanched almonds or pine nuts
- 30 g capers, drained and rinsed
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 lemon, zest and juice
- 50 g Parmesan, finely grateduse Pecorino for a sharper flavour
- 80 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 400 g dried pastalinguine, spaghetti, or casarecce all work well
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 pinch black pepper, freshly ground
- 20 g extra Parmesan, finely grated (optional)
Contains: cereals gluten, milk, nuts.
Method
- Bring a large pot of well-salted water to the boil. Toast the walnuts in a dry frying pan over a medium heat for 3–4 minutes, tossing regularly, until they smell nutty and are lightly golden. Tip onto a plate and leave to cool for a couple of minutes.About 5 min
- Put the parsley, toasted walnuts, capers, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, and Parmesan into a food processor. Pulse five or six times until you have a rough, rubble-like texture — you want texture, not a smooth paste. With the motor running, pour in the olive oil in a steady stream. Stop, scrape down the sides, taste, and season with salt and black pepper.About 3 min
- Cook the pasta in the boiling water according to the packet instructions until just al dente. Before you drain it, scoop out a mugful — roughly 200ml — of the starchy cooking water. Drain the pasta.About 10 min
- Return the drained pasta to the warm pot, off the heat. Spoon in all of the parsley pesto and add 4 tablespoons of the reserved pasta water. Toss vigorously for 1–2 minutes until every strand is coated and the sauce looks glossy and slightly loosened. Add more pasta water a splash at a time if it looks at all dry.About 2 min
- Divide between four warmed bowls. Finish with a grating of extra Parmesan if you like, and a crack of black pepper. Serve immediately.
Tips
- Do not over-blitz the pesto — you want it coarse and a little chunky, not baby food. Pulse rather than blitz continuously.
- The pasta water is not optional — it is what makes the pesto cling properly. Always reserve it before you drain.
- If your parsley is very mature and the stalks are thick, include the thinner upper stalks freely but discard the very woody base. They add flavour and waste nothing.
Ring the changes
- Make it vegan by swapping the Parmesan for 4 tablespoons of nutritional yeast and a small pinch of extra salt — it still has real depth.
- Add 150g of drained, rinsed butter beans tossed in with the pasta at the end for extra protein and substance.
Keeping it
The pesto itself keeps in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to 5 days — press a layer of olive oil over the surface to stop it browning. Dressed pasta is best eaten immediately and does not reheat well.
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