A special holiday Resolution Recipe

[madbaker]

(Or, a replacement for not having posted last week.)
Walnut Garlic Sauce

1/2 cup bread crumbs
4 ounces walnuts, chopped
5-6 medium cloves garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
1/8 cup white wine vinegar
salt & white pepper to taste

Soak the bread crumbs in just enough water to cover for ten minutes; squeeze excess water out if necessary. Combine walnuts, garlic, and soaked bread crumbs in a food processor and pulse to mix. With the machine running, add oil, vinegar, and salt & pepper. Process until smooth - the sauce should be creamy. Add a little cold water if the sauce is too thick to pour.

Serve at room temperature over hot pasta or grilled hearty fish, such as tuna.

What worked: This was a nice blend of nutty and garlicky, without being overwhelmingly garlicky. Really. I initially thought I needed to add more garlic (of course) but after sitting for 10 minutes, it was good garlic flavor without hitting the stomach with that raw garlic oomph.

What didn't: Brown glop. I served it over gnocchi, which was a good flavor combo, but this needs some color relief such as spinach pasta, or even just a few sprigs of parsley to relieve the unremitting brownness.

Will I make it again? I might. It was good and not difficult. It's a good alternative to red sauce or white sauce, anyway.

When reading the recipe for the first time, I immediately flashed on this medieval recipe. Okay, so they're not that similar -- one is raw and has breadcrumbs, the other is cooked in lard. But still.

Comments

[hrj.livejournal.com]

I've used a medieval recipe that's a lot more similar to your sauce above. This is from memory, since still off in the snowy wilds, but it was garlic, walnuts, breadcrumbs to thicken, and at least some vinegar. I believe it was cooked. That's about as far as memory will go except that it was delicious. I'll try to remember to look it up when I get home, but I think I copied it into a notebook back in the late '70s when I wasn't being fanatical about keep track of sources.