Pumpkin Ravioli

My dear friend T always raves about some pumpkin ravioli in sage brown butter at his local eatery, so since it seems suitably autumnal, I decided to give it a go.

 Source

I adapted this recipe

I halved the pasta dough quantities and got about 8 raviolies each, which turned out to be perfect, this is a filling dish.  But I might make the full version and freeze half the next time.

Pasta dough (make in advance as it requires minimum 30 min rest):
300g ’00′ flour
3 large free-range eggs
1/2 teaspoon of salt

1.  Sift the flour into a large bowl (or onto a clean countertop) and add salt
2. Make a well in the centre of the flour and crack eggs into it
3. Mix well with your hands or a mixer with dough hook
4. When the dough comes together, knead for approx 5 min or until smooth, adding flour or a tiny amount of water as required to get the dough to the right consistency
5. Wrap in cling film and allow to rest for a minimum of 30 min
6. In the meantime make the filling (as per instructions following)
7. Cut your dough into 4 equal pieces
8. Keeping the remainder tightly wrapped, take one piece and put it through your pasta machine, starting at the widest setting and continuing onto the narrowest (or you can use a rolling pin but it won’t get as thin or consistent)
9. Cut shapes with ravioli cutters (or a ravioli wheel or knife, making sure the shapes are consistent

I didn´t have OO flour, I just used half strong white flour and half wheat.  A pasta machine would really help here - it was a lot of work getting the pasta acceptably thin, and they were still a little on the chunky side once cooked.  I started out rolling between to sheets of baking parchment, but it wasn´t really necessary - the dough wasn´t particularly sticky or difficult to work with.  The ravioli tops will need to be slightly larger than the bottoms to accommodate the bulk of the filling.

I went ahead and sauteed some onion and garlic in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and then added the pumpkin puree, which I got by quartering the pumpkin and gently simmering/steaming for about an hour.  I would have roasted but our oven is on the fritz.  Simply scoop the pumpkin out of the skin when done.  I also used feta cheese.

I had a lot of filling left over, which is in the freezer waiting the next batch. 

 Filling:

1 butternut pumpkin

salt and pepper

sprinkle of nutmeg

goat cheese (I used fromage de chevre)

75g butter

bunch of sage leaves, torn roughly

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C
2. Cut pumpkin into quarters or large chunks
3. Bake until tender (about 30-40 min)
4. Remove from oven, allow to cool and mash pumpkin flesh, seasoning with salt, pepper and nutmeg
5. Add a teaspoon full of pumpkin and a dollop of goat cheese to the top of each side of ravioli
6. Use a mixture of flour and water as ‘glue’ and run it around the edges using your finger
7. Put the top on the ravioli and press edges together to seal
8. Cook in boiling water for approx 2 min (fresh pasta is much faster to cook than pre-made)
9. Meanwhile, add butter and torn up sage leaves to a pan over low-medium heat.  Allow to brown but watch closely to ensure it doesn’t burn.
10. Drain cooked pasta and top with sage butter sauce