Creamy, savory, comforting and delicious. The bright, fall flavors of the butternut squash blend gorgeously with rich ricotta cheese, salty/sharp parmesan and dusty green fresh sage leaves to fill sheets and sheets of freshly made pasta. If you're feeling ambitious and would like a fun, savory fall project; consider making this delicious butternut squash ravioli.This is the kind of dish you make when you want to spend time in a warm, cozy kitchen with some loved ones. This recipe makes 2 dozen butternut squash ravioli and a delicious garlic/butter/sage sauce.
2cups 00 Flour - or all purpose you may need more flour or another egg to get the right consistency
additional flour for dusting
The Sauce
1/2 cup butter
4-8 cloves garlic peeled and roughly chopped
8-10 fresh sage leaves thinly sliced
Instructions
Roasting the Butternut Squash
Preheat oven to 400°F. On a half-sheet pan arrange 4 cups of peeled, chopped butternut squash. Drizzle with about 2 Tbs olive oil and sprinkle with a few pinches of salt and white pepper. Roast for about 20 minutes, so it's cooked through but not browned.
Mixing the Pasta Dough:
In the bowl of a mixer, combine about 1 3/4 cup flour (00 is preferable, although all-purpose will work as well) and 3 eggs. Using the dough hook attachment, mix into a dough, adding more flour as needed to make a smooth, somewhat stiff dough. If your dough is too dry, add another egg.
Knead the dough on a floured surface for a minute or so. Wrap baseball-sized balls of dough in plastic wrap. Set on counter to rest for about 20 minutes. If you are going to wait several hours before rolling your dough, store the dough in the refrigerator. If you're going to wait more than a day to roll the dough, store it in your freezer and bring to room temperature before you proceed with the rolling.
Making the Ravioli Filling:
In a food processor, combine roasted and cooled butternut squash cubes, ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, sliced fresh sage leaves. Puree. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Rolling Out the Pasta Sheets:
Unwrap one ball of pasta dough and roll it out to about eight inches long on a floured surface with a rolling pin. If the dough is sticky, knead with a little more flour. Roll one piece of dough through the pasta roller attachment of your mixer, set to 1 - which is the widest setting. Fold the dough sheet in half or in thirds before each rolling. Roll through the number 1 setting 5 or 6 times. It will be ready to flatten into longer sheets when it is smooth and satiny to the touch.
Gradually, roll the sheet of pasta thinner and thinner, turning the dial one setting each time you roll the pasta through. I've found that the number seven setting is the proper thinness for ravioli. Please see video for demonstration.
I recommend rolling and filling each sheet of pasta one-at-a-time, as your pasta sheets will dry out quickly once you roll them.
Assembling the Ravioli
Dust your work surface. Lay your pasta sheet across your work surface. If your work surface is small, cut the pasta sheet to fit and make rows. Dab about a teaspoon full of ravioli filling every 2 1/2 inches, just below the center line of your pasta sheet. Using your finger, dab water on the pasta sheet between each ball of filling. Draw a long line of water along the base of the pasta sheet. The water will act like glue. Pull the top of the pasta sheet down, over the ravioli filling and to the base of the pasta sheet. Using your fingers, press the pasta sheets over the lines of water that you just drew. Press well to seal. Using a paring knife or pastry roller, slice on the seams to create square ravioli. Using your fingers, give each ravioli a good press around its perimeter to seal the edges.
Making the Sauce:
In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the chopped garlic and thinly sliced sage leaves. Simmer on low - do not let the garlic or butter brown. Simmer on low until garlic has softened. Keep the sauce warm on the stove while your ravioli in a pot.
Boiling and Saucing the Ravioli:
Bring a pot of water to boil. Add salt to the water. I add a hefty pinch of rock salt. Boil the ravioli in small batches - 8-12 ravioli at a time. When the ravioli start to float, let them simmer for an additional 2-3 minutes. Lift the ravioli out of the boiling water with a slotted spoon and put directly in the warm sauce. Spoon about 1/4 cup pasta water out of the boiling pot and transfer to the saucepan. Move the ravioli in the sauce, activating the creaminess of the gluten. Move and slosh the ravioli in the sauce for about 4 minutes. Transfer the sauced ravioli onto a serving plate or platter. Repeat for the rest of the ravioli.
Serve ravioli with plenty of additional grated parmesan cheese and sliced fresh sage leaves.