Fall Butternut Squash Ravioli [Advanced]

It’s November which means gourd season people. Not only is it fun to say, it’s fun to eat. Started out the season with this Butternut Squash Ravioli recipe. Like a pumpkin spiced latte, one time will usually set me right for the entire season, so might as well do it up right. Often this dish can be very sweet and heavy loaded with added sugar. As will most pasta making, it is time consuming until you’re well practiced,but I always think it worth the work in the end! Homemade pasta makes pasta worth eating. Can make ahead a large batch and freeze and use the left over squash for soup later in the week.

Pasta – Equipment Needed: Stand Mixer with dough hook. Combine all ingredients in a stand mixer bowl and work on low for 10 minutes, until it begins to form a ball. Will be a tad sticky but should all form together beautifully. Remove from mixer bowl and shape into a ball. Wrap with plastic wrap and let rest at room temp for 30 minutes. This recipe calls for Semolina Flour which is high in gluten and protein. You can sub all AP or whole wheat flour, but nothing replaces Semolina. Luckily you can find it most grocery stores now or order it online before.

• 1 1/2 C Semolina Flour
• 1 1/2 C All Purpose (AP) Flour
• 4 Fresh Eggs (save the older ones for hard boiled eggs)
• 4 T Olive Oil
• 4 T Cool Water
• 1 tsp Salt

Filling – Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Can be made a day ahead of time to help break up the work. Also, can cut recipe in half for 2 hungry mouths to feed. The recipe didn’t use the entire butternut squash (I roasted the day before) so I saved the rest and made a creamy butternut squash soup later in the week!

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• 4 C Butternut Squash (Roasted – To roast, cut in half and lay face down on aluminum lined baking sheet for 1 hour 15 mins on 350 degrees. Remove skin and store up to 2 days)
• 4 T Marscapone Cheese
• 8 Sage Leaves, Chopped Fine
• 2 Garlic Cloves, Minced
• 1/4 C Sweet Onion, Minced
• 2 T Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Sauce – (Do this step once your ravioli are made and ready to boil) Combine butter and sage leaves on low and cook, stirring often, for 15 minutes to infuse flavor. Turn up the heat to medium and let cook, stirring and watching CONSTANTLY while butter browns. It can burn in a blink of an eye. I like a barely light brown butter so it’s not too rich but a little darker is probably preferred.

• 1 Stick Good Unsalted Butter
• 20 Sage Leaves
• 1/4 C Toasted Pine Nuts (Can also use Hazelnuts if you can find them, and afford them!)

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Making the actual ravioli is the hard part. I purchased this handy dandy ravioli mold at William & Sonoma because I didn’t want to drop the cheddar on this one but they are tough to get out of the form so might be worth the money if you plan on doing ravioli’s often. You can also buy the stamp cut outs or the roller which I think in the long run is actually the easiest and most affordable way.

To Assemble Ravioli: Cut the dough ball in half and keep the other half wrapped. Flour your surface and roll out slightly like above photo. Then feed through your pasta roller on largest setting first and then working your way to the settings until you’re about 1/16 inch thin. Your pasta roller will aid in thin, consistent sheets. Trust this is nearly impossible to do by hand unless you’ve had years of practice! I have a counter roller but they also make an attachment for your stand mixer. Once you have your pretty long, thin pasta sheets you can use the form or cutter option to assemble. TIP: If you’re using the form, once you lay your first sheet of pasta on the form, use the end of an egg to help make the indention for your filling. The key here, is do not over stuff, a little filling goes a long way. Can freeze if you’re just to tired to go on after all that work, or you can finally enjoy your work.

To Assemble Dish: Get yourself a nice big pot of boiling water going and salt her up really good. This is where folks get skimpy on salt…DON’T. Add your pasta. It will cook fast (the beauty of fresh pasta) and float to the top when they’re ready. I then drain and add to my brown butter to coat. Add pine nuts and toss. Plate and sprinkle with good Parmesan cheese. I like to by a block and grate it myself. There are all kind of clumping agents in pre-shredded and grated cheese.

NOTE: Meat lovers, If you’d like to fry up some bacon to the brown butter sauce I don’t think anyone is going to be mad at ya. Dice the bacon up and toss her in for some extra love.