Delia Smith shares another of her great recipes with us

As I sit here looking out of my study window I can see one of our magnificent walnut trees – and it's literally bursting with walnuts! In fact it is one of two trees that are seedlings (son and daughter) of the original one that was blown down in a storm many years ago.

We are told that all cottages in this part of the country had to have walnut trees in the garden to ward off the witches. So far so good – no witches have materialised as yet.

We have also discovered, in the course of some renovation, that the lathe and plaster walls in parts of the house had been insulated with thousands of walnut shells. Our ancestors may have been a trifle superstitious, but they certainly knew to how make a cottage cosy.

When we get round to harvesting this lot, they will have to be dried, spread out on a tray, in an airing cupboard for some time. However the newly-formed, so-called 'green walnuts' straight from the tree are beautifully sweet and are great served with cheese.

If you can buy whole walnuts still in the shell so much the better – to crack them give them a sharp tap along the seam, using a small hammer on a flat surface. If you buy them shelled, in halves or pieces, they will still be good for cooking up to Christmas.

For this recipe I use orecchiette (pasta shaped like ears), but any small pasta shapes will be fine. It's quite rich, so I just serve it with a green salad with a lemony dressing.

Pasta with Walnut Sauce

(serves 2)

175g orecchiette pasta

75g shelled walnuts

2 cloves garlic, peeled

2 heaped tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

4 level tablespoons mascarpone

Extra Parmesan (to serve)

Begin this by chopping half the walnuts finely together with the garlic in a mini-chopper or small processor. Then combine this mixture in a bowl with the mascarpone and Parmesan cheese, adding a good seasoning of salt flakes and freshly milled black pepper.

Now bring a pan containing two litres of salted water to the boil and warm two pasta bowls. Add the pasta to the water, give it one good stir and let it simmer for about 12 minutes. Meanwhile mini-chop the rest of the walnuts (not too finely this time). Drain the pasta in a colander, return it to the pan and quickly stir in the walnut sauce, keeping the pan over a low heat as you do so to heat the sauce through. Serve the pasta with the extra nuts sprinkled over and some more Parmesan on the table.

� Delia Smith 2010

For further Delia recipes visit deliaonline.com