Squash Ravioli

By Caroline Cummins, from the Culinate Kitchen collection

Introduction

This recipe is adapted from one that appeared in the September/October 2005 issue of Chow magazine; it’s a clever way of making ravioli without having to whip up a batch of fresh pasta. The original version claims that you can execute the entire recipe, start to finish, in less than 2 1/2 hours. If you’re a professional chef, sure. But if you’re not, break this recipe down into two parts: one evening for roasting (and cooling) the squash, the next for assembling and cooking the ravioli.

Ingredients

Steps

1. Roast the squash: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Put a little vegetable oil on a baking sheet. Halve the squash (if you can; some autumn squashes are practically impossible to slice in half, even with Chow’s helpful video) and discard the seeds. Place the halves cut side down on the oiled sheet and bake for 45 minutes to 1½ hours, depending on squash size (and whether you could halve them), until flesh is soft and slightly caramelized. If you’re making the dish over two nights, let the squash cool, then remove the flesh and store in the fridge overnight.
2. Make the filling: Put the cooled flesh in a large bowl and crush it (with your fingers or a fork) until there are no large lumps remaining. Sprinkle the ½ cup grated cheese, nutmeg, thyme (if using), salt, and pepper over the squash and mix it all together evenly.
3. Assemble the ravioli: Lightly dust two baking sheets with flour. Place a single wonton wrapper on a wooden cutting board and dollop about 2 teaspoons of filling in the middle of the wrapper. Using a pastry brush, brush a bit of the egg wash along the four edges of the wrapper around the filling. Place another wrapper over the first and carefully seal the edges, making sure no air pockets remain. (If you like, use a glass or a cookie cutter to cut the edges off the ravioli so that you have circular ravioli instead of square ones.) Place the finished raviolo on the flour-dusted baking sheet. Repeat until all the wonton wrappers are gone; you should have about 2 cups of filling left over (see Note).
4. Cook the ravioli: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the ravioli in batches, about 6 to 8 at a time; they will float when done, about 3 to 5 minutes total. Scoop the ravioli out of water with a skimmer and drain them briefly on a clean dishtowel, then layer them with a little olive oil drizzled in between the layers.
5. Make the sauce: While the ravioli are cooking, melt the butter in a pan over medium to medium-low heat until the butter starts to brown. Add the sage leaves and cook for a few minutes (don’t let the butter burn!) and then add the stock. Simmer the sauce to reduce it while the ravioli finish cooking.
6. Since the ravioli are big and will be covered in a rich butter sauce, don’t serve more than a few ravioli per person. Place 3 to 5 ravioli on a plate and pour some of the butter-sage sauce over them. Pass the remaining grated cheese at the table.

Notes

If you feel like adding extras to this dish, try sautéed mushrooms or slices of sausage.

Use the leftover filling for more ravioli, as the base for a squash soup, or as a simple side dish, warmed up until the cheese melts slightly.

This content is from the Culinate Kitchen collection.