This is my favorite pasta dish to prepare in the fall. I’ll make it with pumpkin in October when fresh pumpkins are being sold all over the place. Italians actually call squash and pumpkin by the same name, “zucca,” which confused me the first time going to the market in Italy.
First make the FILLING…
makes about a dozen ravioli
1 butternut squash
1 T olive oil
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/3 c parmesan cheese, grated
1 egg
There are a few ways to bake a squash. It’s better for this recipe to roast it dry, so the filling’s not too moist.
1. Preheat the oven to 400°.
2. Cut off the top of the squash and then cut it lengthwise. Remove the seeds with a spoon.
3. Cut the squash lengthwise again, so you have four total pieces.
4. Pierce the skin a few times with a fork to let the steam out as it cooks.
5. Brush the flesh with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
6. Roast for 40-50 minutes until the flesh can easily be pierced with a fork. The skin will brown a little too.
7. When cooled completely, scrap the flesh into a bowl.
8. Add in the cheese and egg (make sure the squash has cooled or your egg will cook!).
9. Puree the mixture with a food processor or immersion blender, or mash it real good if you don’t have either. If the filling is really wet, add more cheese or a spoonful of flour.
10. Chill in the fridge while you prepare the dough.
Then make the DOUGH…
1 recipe homemade pasta dough
And finally you’re ready to make the RAVIOLI…
1. Fill a large pot with water and a spoonful of kosher salt and bring to a boil.
2. Roll out the dough into sheets as wide as the pasta maker, or about 4 inches wide if you are not using a pasta machine. Go about as thin as you can, but not too thin that it starts to rip.
3. Drop by the spoonful along the center, leaving a couple of inches in between. You don’t need that much to fill them.
4. Wet a brush/your finger and run along all the spots of the dough that aren’t covered by the filling, so the dough can seal itself when you fold it.
5. Fold the sheet in half, and press in between each filling.
6. Using a round cutter, make half-moons by cutting out each filling piece.
7. Gently pressing around the edge again to make sure it’s sealed well.
8. Transfer to a floured pan and repeat the process with the remaining dough.
9. Drop the ravioli into the boiling water. Do it in sets so you don’t crowd the pot. When they float to the top, pull them out with a slotted spoon and transfer to pan coated with butter or olive oil.
At this point, you can freeze them (freeze them spread out on a tray first, and then transfer to a container, so they don’t stick to each other). Otherwise you are ready for the SAUCE…
3 T butter
1/8 c walnuts (or hazelnuts), chopped
12-15 sage leaves
1. Melt the butter in a large pan until it begins to brown.
2. Add in the walnuts and toss to coat them.
3. Add in the sage until the leaves start to crisp.
4. Finish by adding in the ravioli, tossing so to coat them in sauce. If you don’t trust your tossing abilities, and are reaching for a spatula right now, just be careful not to puncture the ravioli (you can practice flipping afterwards with a dry piece of bread in a pan off heat).