About halfway through the process I remembered why I only do this every couple of years. It is very labor intensive, and I don't even make the pasta sheets from scratch. There is an Italian eatery and deli not far from us called Cupini's. They have been featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives on the Food Network. I call them the day before I want to make the ravioli and order about two pounds of pasta sheets. They make them overnight and I pick them up the next day. When we lived in South Carolina and there were no Italian Delis around, I made the raviolis once using wanton wrappers. The taste was great but the wantons are a little thin. That makes stuffing and handling them a very delicate task. The texture wasn't quite right for ravioli either.
While I was at Cupini's picking up the pasta sheets, I noticed that they had butternut squash ravioli in their freezer. As I was drawing to a close with production of this latest batch, I was wondering just what their raviolis tasted like and thinking that before I make them again I should really give the Cupini's variety a try. If they are good and I expect they are, I could use them and just do the sage brown butter sauce. I am getting to the age where I love labor saving devices.
I got this recipe from the Food Network website about eight years ago. It may still be on the website, but I am using the copy I printed out in 2008. I have made several alterations to the recipe. They do not attribute the recipe to a specific chef, so I can't do that either. The recipe says that the prep time is 40 min. with inactive prep time of 4 hr and 15 min. I am not sure what inactive prep time is, but I am pretty sure I was active for the duration. Here is the recipe. The taste is terrific. If you have the stamina, give it a try.
Ingredients:
For ravioli:
1 small to medium butternut squash (I bought a 2 LB. box of cubed squash at Costco)
2 TBSP dark molasses
2 TBSP unsalted butter
2 tsps balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup mascarpone cheese
2 TBSP freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/4 tsps ground cinnamon
1/4 tsps ground nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 Lbs pasta sheets
flour - for dusting board
For Sage Brown Butter Sauce:
8 TBSP sweet butter
8 fresh sage leaves - chiffonaded
2 oz. parmesan for grating
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate for grating
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut squash in half and scrape out the seeds. Using 1 TBSP molasses, rub the cut sides and cavity of the squash till coated. If you buy the cubed squash, toss it in the molasses. Season with salt and pepper. Place cut side down on a roasting pan and cook in the oven until very soft, about 1 hour. Less if you use the cubed squash. Let cool to room temperature and scoop out the flesh into the bowl of a food processor. Puree squash until smooth, then spread on a baking sheet and return to the 375 degree oven to dry, about ten minutes. The consistency will be like mashed potatoes. Scrape into a large mixing bowl. Heat the unsalted butter in a saucepan over medium heat until it melts and just starts to brown. Immediately remove from heat and add the remaining 1 TBSP of molasses and the balsamic vinegar. Add to the squash in the mixing bowl along with the mascarpone, the grated parmesan, the cinnamon and the nutmeg. Season to taste with salt and pepper and mix well. Cover and refrigerate 4 hours or up to two days. Here is the filling after sitting in the fridge overnight:
To fill raviolis, lay out a sheet of pasta on a lightly floured board. Cut into circles with a 3" or 31/2" pastry cutter. Put 1 TBSP of filling in the center of half of the rounds using either a pastry bag or a small spoon. Leave about a half inch border all around the filling.
Moisten the border of a round with water. I used a pastry brush for this. Lay a second round on top and press down on the outside edges with your fingers. I like to then go around the entire edge with a small fork and make sure the edges are really sealed. This keeps the filling from oozing out when you boil the raviolis. Repeat until you run out of pasta rounds or filling.
Lay filled raviolis out to dry on a lightly floured board or a baking sheet. Lightly dust the tops with flour. To cook, boil in salted water until tender, about three to five minutes depending on the thickness of your pasta. If you want to freeze the raviolis, line a container with waxed paper and put in a single layer of raviolis. Cover with more wax paper and lay in another layer of raviolis. Repeat process until all of the ravioli are in the container. Cover with a tight sealing lid and freeze.
Make the sage brown butter sauce while you are cooking the raviolis. Melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium low heat. Add the sage and cook until the butter foams and starts to brown. Add a couple of teaspoons of water from the pasta pot to the butter sauce. Remove from heat and add drained raviolis to the butter sauce and swirl to coat the pasta. To serve put a portion of ravioli into a pasta dish and finish with a generous grating of parmesan cheese and bittersweet chocolate. You will have a beautiful and savory dish, with great flavor. Enjoy !!
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