Creamy Walnut Pesto Sauce

Chef #465252's Note:

This is a creamy Italian-style sauce that I regularly serve warm, over hot noodles or cold, spread on crackers. The combination of the sour yogurt, tangy garlic and bitter walnuts makes for a nice, balanced sauce. This recipe works best with a yogurt that contains 5% milk fat or higher. Add enough so that the sauce is a bit wetter than you'd like because the dry ingredients will absorb a fair amount of liquid. You don't need to use your best extra virgin olive oil because the food processor will ruin its flavour, pure grade olive oil is fine.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 10 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 150 g parmigiano-reggiano cheese , cubed
• 200 g walnuts , shelled
• 5 garlic cloves , peeled
• 10 ml salt
• 15 ml dried basil
• 150 ml olive oil
• 500 ml yogurt
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Cut the cheese into 1cm cubes and chop finely in your food processor.
2. Add walnuts, garlic, salt and basil and chop until you have a rough paste.
3. Slowly add olive oil to the running food processor until the paste starts to form a ball.
4. Add yogurt to the food processor and pulse until thoroughly mixed.
5. Transfer the sauce to a bowl, cover tightly and refrigerate for one hour to allow the flavours to mingle.