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Creamy Sicilian Pesto with Ricotta and Walnuts

Creamy Sicilian Pesto with Ricotta and Walnuts has mild and delicate flavor and is perfect with pasta, sandwiches or vegetables. 10-minute easy recipe.

Creamy Sicilian Pesto with Ricotta and Walnuts has mild and delicate flavor and is perfect with pasta, sandwiches or vegetables. 10-minute easy recipe.

Sicilian pesto is not your average pesto, but believe me, it has potential to become your favorite one! Creamy consistency, mild and delicate flavor, which harmoniously combines smooth fresh ricotta cheese with rich savory walnuts. Its pink color is achieved by adding sun dried tomatoes soaked in extra virgin olive oil.

Creamy Sicilian Pesto with Ricotta and Walnuts has mild and delicate flavor and is perfect with pasta, sandwiches or vegetables. 10-minute easy recipe.

I don’t have to tell you how good it is with pasta, just by itself or with a bit of fresh arugula and tomatoes… I use it also as a spread for my toast and it goes perfect topped with a slice of cheese. Use it as a sauce for fish, baked potatoes, roasted or fresh vegetables (try it out for your next barbecue!), as a spread for sandwiches or bruschetta, as an addition to soups for more flavor and creamier consistency or on your pizza. The less popular but equally good usage of Sicilian pesto would be to add it to your mashed potatoes, omelette or use it as a dip for crackers, chips or veggies. I love how easy it is to adjust pesto to your taste: I’ve made kale pesto with cashew nuts, wild garlic pesto, red pesto and many others and I always find delicious ways to use it (most often with pasta and toasts, I admit).

Creamy Sicilian Pesto with Ricotta and Walnuts has mild and delicate flavor and is perfect with pasta, sandwiches or vegetables. 10-minute easy recipe.

I was craving a mild creamy pesto recently, so I decided to use the awesome extra virgin olive oil, sun dried tomatoes and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese we brought from our trip to Italy this May. I’m convinced that the quality of the ingredients really matters. I understand that not all of you have access to the high quality Italian produce but it might be a good idea to use the best ingredients you can get locally.

Creamy Sicilian Pesto with Ricotta and Walnuts has mild and delicate flavor and is perfect with pasta, sandwiches or vegetables. 10-minute easy recipe.

To make the Sicilian pesto you’ll need ricotta cheese, walnuts, extra virgin olive oil, Parmesan cheese, fresh basil leaves, a bit of garlic and sun dried tomatoes soaked in oil. You can buy sun dried tomatoes and soak them in good quality olive oil by yourself (for at least 24 hours before using) or use canned sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, whatever you feel like. Here is an interesting and extremely useful article for you on which olive oil to buy, what to use it for and why it’s good for you: All About Olive Oil with Jamie’s Italian.

How to Make Creamy Sicilian Pesto with Ricotta and Walnuts

So here is how to make Sicilian pesto: combine all ingredients, blend them with a hand mixer or blender, season with salt and pepper to taste, adjust the color with a bit of tomato paste and that’s it. Very easy but so delicious! Check the recipe below for details:

Creamy Sicilian Pesto
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5 from 2 votes

Creamy Sicilian Pesto with Ricotta and Walnuts

Creamy Sicilian Pesto with Ricotta and Walnuts has mild and delicate flavor and is perfect with pasta, sandwiches or vegetables. 10-minute easy recipe.
Course Condiment
Cuisine Mediterranean
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Servings 8 servings
Calories 149kcal

Ingredients

  • 150 grams or 5 oz ricotta cheese
  • 5 in sun dried tomato halves soakedolive oil and roughly chopped
  • 10 leaves basil
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 50 grams or 2 oz walnuts
  • 50 grams or 2 oz grated Parmigiano Reggiano or any other hard cheese
  • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • salt
  • black pepper
  • tomato paste to adjust the color

Instructions

  • Combine ricotta cheese, sun dried tomatoes, basil, garlic, walnuts, Parmesan cheese and olive oil and blend in food processor until smooth. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. Add some tomato paste to adjust the color. Serve with pasta, bread, fresh or roasted vegetables or as a dip. Enjoy!

Notes

This recipe makes about 1 cup of vegan pesto which is roughly 8 servings (2 tablespoons per serving).
Store the pesto in an airtight jar in the fridge for about 7 days.

Nutrition

Calories: 149kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 13mg | Sodium: 120mg | Potassium: 107mg | Vitamin A: 180IU | Vitamin C: 0.8mg | Calcium: 121mg | Iron: 0.5mg
Tried this recipe?Follow @happykitchen.rocks on Instagram and show me the recipes you are making from my blog using the hashtag #happykitchenrocks!

Let me know when you make this recipe, I would love to know what you think!

 

Cheers,

Elena

Creamy Sicilian Pesto with Ricotta and Walnuts has mild and delicate flavor and is perfect with pasta, sandwiches or vegetables. 10-minute easy recipe.

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Recipe Rating




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Paula

Friday 29th of July 2016

I will be making this tomorrow for a "girls" happy hour/app gathering - guarantee they will gobble it up. Looking at your pictures answered my question, but might want to add "in food processor" in directions for those who only have written recipe.

Elena Szeliga

Saturday 30th of July 2016

Thank you so much for pointing that out, Paula! I hope you enjoy it! Let me know how it turned out ;)

Georgina Ingham

Friday 15th of July 2016

This pesto looks amazing! So light & creamy with the ricotta. Fabulous flavour combination going on too.

Thank you for the link to my site :)

Elena Szeliga

Friday 15th of July 2016

Thank you, Georgina! I'm happy to share a link to your article about olive oil - so informative!

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About Elena Szeliga

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Elena Szeliga is the founder of Happy Kitchen.Rocks, where she shares delicious and healthy vegetarian and vegan food, from weeknight dinners to veganized classics and gourmet appetizers. Her recipes have been featured at Better Homes & Gardens, BuzzFeed, Country Living, The Kitchn and Reader’s Digest. Her mission is to help cook easy vegetarian and vegan meals with simple and fresh ingredients. Read more about Elena.

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