Kitchen Adventures; Butternut Squash Ravioli

Did you know that in Italian the plural of ravioli is ravioli. So, if one were to say "raviolis", it would be the mixed language equivalent of saying "pastases". We don't say "spaghettis", right? ;)

I have too much fun with silly things like that. Don't get me started on the misuse of the word "acronym". There's a whole section on it in this episode of Penn & Teller's Bullshit.

I'm sorry. I digressed. (...impressed you're dressed to SOS...)

A while ago I went a little crazy on a grocery trip a bought a whole mess of butternut squash - like WHOA  - I bought too many. I managed to eat most of them, but I got worried I wouldn't be able to get to the last one before it went bad. I was on the verge of butternut squash overload. So I steamed and pureed it... and then in sat in the fridge for longer than I'd like to admit until I got the right combination of inspiration and motivation. 

Really, the only thing I ever thought I would make was ravioli.

The first thing you should know is that pasta dough is one of the easiest things to make... ever. Eggs, flour, and olive oil go in the mixer

Press it into a ball

and cover it up until you're ready for it.

The filling is just as easy. Pureed squash, ricotta, parmesan and spices of your choice.

Mixed up in a bowl. 

Then you can roll out your dough and...

Just try and roll it as thin as you can. If you have a pasta roller, even better. 

and then... well... I have this totally sweet ravioli mold. 

I might maybe have over filled them a little bit, but it didn't make the ravioli bust or anything because the pasta has a lot of elasticity.

After you churn out as many as you can - this dough recipe makes about 24 ...

...You can freeze them - like I did - or drop them in some boiling water for a few minutes.

Pasta dough for ravioli
Recipe courtesy of Tyler Florence

5 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon salt
6 large eggs
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Combine in a mixer

Brush with one tbsp of olive oil and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit for about an hour.

You can use that time to make your filling.

Butternut Squash Ravioli Filling
Recipe adapted slightly from Scala's


1 cup pureed butternut squash
1 cup ricotta
1/2 cup grated parmesan
salt
pepper
ground nutmeg
cayenne pepper
(season to taste)

Put ingredients in a bowl. Mix until evenly combined.

When it comes to making and filling the raviolis, I'm gonna leave you to your own devises. Some people like an egg wash, but if you have a fancy ravioli mold or stamps, you don't need it. You also probably don't need it if you press around the edges with a fork - like your making a pretty pie crust.

One tip though, be careful with the amount of filling you use. My mold is small, so I can't even think about getting more than a tablespoon in each ravioli, but if you're making them by hand, maybe you like giant raviolis. I don't know. I'm not you. ;)

You don't need a lot of sauce or anything with these babies either. Mine are just sprinkled with a little olive oil and basil salt. Done.

Have fun, y'all.