Tagliatelle with walnut sauce
For 6 as a starter
600 g (1 lb, 6 oz) fresh tagliatelle or 450 g (1 lb) dried egg tagliatelle
2 kg (4.1/2 lb) wet walnuts, shelled and bitter skins removed
breadcrumbs from 1 loaf ciabatta bread, stale if possible, soaked in 150 ml (5 fl oz) milk
3 garlic cloves, peeled
Maldon salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
150 ml (5 fl oz) olive oil
100 g (4 oz) Parmesan, freshly grated
4 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh basil
75 g (3 oz) soft unsalted butter
Keeping a few pieces of walnut whole for serving, pound the remainder together with the garlic in a mortar. Add a little salt and then the parsley, and continue to pound.
Squeeze most of the milk from the breadcrumbs (keep the milk). Add half of the breadcrumbs to the mortar, and mix in. Add the olive oil gradually, plus a little of the milk to loosen the paste, stirring continuously; the sauce must be well amalgamated. Finally, add half the Parmesan and basil, then season. The result is a thick green sauce.
Cook the tagliatelle in a generous amount of boiling salted water, then drain thoroughly and return to the saucepan. Add the softened butter and stir in the sauce.
Serve with the rest of the basil, Parmesan and a few pieces of uncrushed walnut.