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).
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.
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 with Ricotta and Walnuts
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
Nutrition
Let me know when you make this recipe, I would love to know what you think!
Cheers,
Elena
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Jan says
I just made this pesto and it’s so good I could eat it with a spoon! Looking forward to putting it on my pasta tonight! Thank you!
Elena Szeliga says
I'm happy to hear that, Jan! 🙂 Enjoy!
Paula says
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 says
Thank you so much for pointing that out, Paula! I hope you enjoy it! Let me know how it turned out 😉
Georgina Ingham says
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 says
Thank you, Georgina! I'm happy to share a link to your article about olive oil - so informative!