Olive-Walnut Pasta

Name: Olive-Walnut Pasta
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: Kosher salt and black pepper; 1 pound short pasta, like orecchiette, cavatelli, fusilli or elbows; 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil; 2 cups chopped walnuts; 1 1/4 cups Castelvetrano olives (or a mixture of green olives), pitted and torn; 1 small garlic clove, peeled; 1 lemon, zested and juiced (about 3 tablespoons juice)

By Ali Slagle

Updated Jan. 29, 2021

Olive-Walnut Pasta — David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Total Time: 30 minutes
Rating: 4(1,433)
Comments: Read comments

Double down on the olive oil flavor in this dish by warming a generous amount with torn green olives to dress your pasta. While you can use just one kind of olive, like mild Castelvetrano, a variety will create depth of flavor. Adding chopped walnuts provides texture and a nice dose of protein to this vegan dish, while lemon zest and juice perk everything up. It would also be good with soft herbs like oregano, dill or basil, a salty cheese like feta or Parmesan, or shrimp that's been cooked with the pasta in the last few minutes of boiling.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

Kosher salt and black pepper
1pound short pasta, like orecchiette, cavatelli, fusilli or elbows
½cup extra-virgin olive oil
2cups chopped walnuts
1¼cups Castelvetrano olives (or a mixture of green olives), pitted and torn
1small garlic clove, peeled
1lemon, zested and juiced (about 3 tablespoons juice)

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. When the water’s boiling, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water, then drain.
Step 2
While the pasta’s cooking, in a large Dutch oven, stir together the olive oil, walnuts and olives. Set over medium heat and cook, stirring often, until fragrant and the walnuts are toasted, 3 to 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, finely grate in the garlic clove and season with 1½ teaspoons salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Stir to combine.
Step 3
Add the pasta and ¼ cup pasta water to the walnut mixture. Cook over medium-low, stirring and adding pasta water as needed, until the pasta is well coated. Remove from heat and stir in half the lemon zest and all the lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper and more lemon zest.

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Ratings

4 out of 5

1,433 user ratings

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Comments

Alan5 years ago

Made this tonight and it was quite yummy. The proportions were a bit off: definitely too many walnuts (I would go with 1 cup next time) and more olive oil than needed (I would use 1/4 or 1/3 cup). We served with grated parmesan and it worked well.

Kelly5 years ago

Used olive tapenade and it was quick and easy. Delicious.

jz5 years ago

Added frozen peas to the pan after adding pasta. Cooked up easily and added a vegetable.

CAPhyl1 month ago

Made this a second time for 2 people (much less pasta and 1 cup walnuts) and it was great again. Added just over a T of capers, Italian seasoning and handfuls of spinach at the end. I also used jalapeño stuffed olives, as that's what I had. Very tasty.

Tomas1 year ago

Followed the recipe to the letter, except that I took a cue from my fellow cooks and added raw, peeled, deveined shrimp to the oil-walnuts-olive mixture just before bringing in the pasta. Shrimp cooked quickly, especially since I let them thaw for several hours after removing them from the freezer. Worked like a charm. Savory and flavorful. The lemon background notes were a pleasant twist. Thumbs up from the family at the table.

Michael Corsentino1 year ago

Toast the walnuts!

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