We had a lovely sunny Sunday, with no wind and temps in the 20s -- practically balmy. Capping the lovely day, tonight my friend Karen gave me a lesson in making homemade pasta.We made ravioli, filling them with a squash filling I found on Epicurious.com. The filling was a snap to make, and the pasta, not so bad, once you get a feel for it. The dough needs to be smooth and elastic, but dry, not sticky. Once we got going, we made lots of raviolis in about 2 hours, with plenty of time for conversation and wine.
BUTTERNUT SQUASH, SAGE, AND GOAT CHEESE RAVIOLI WITH HAZELNUT BROWN-BUTTER SAUCE
For filling
a 2-pound butternut squash, roasted and mashed
1 1/2 c diced shallot
1 1/2 teaspoons ground sage
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 garlic clove, minced
4 ounces Spanish Manchego cheese, grated
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup hazelnuts, toasted lightly and skinned and chopped coarsely
In a skillet cook shallot and sage in butter with salt and pepper to taste over moderate heat, stirring, until shallot is golden brown. Stir in garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute.
Cool shallot mixture slightly and add to squash. Add cheese and stir to combine well. Make ravioli.
In a 6-quart kettle bring 5 quarts salted water to a gentle boil for ravioli.
In skillet cook butter with hazelnuts over moderate heat until butter begins to brown, about 3 minutes, and immediately remove from heat (nuts will continue to cook). Season hazelnut butter with salt and pepper and keep warm, covered.
Makes 30 ravioli, serving 6 generously.
I made a few changes from the Epicurious recipe, which called for using won-ton wrappers. It made a huge amount of filling, so I have a lot left over. I may try and make the remaining filling into gnocchi later this week.
We served the ravioli with a simple roasted chicken and a lovely salad, and followed dinner with a few hands of cards. The perfect end to a nice relaxing weekend.
2 comments:
That sounds delicious! I love to cook, too, but have never had the opportunity to make fresh pasta. Or maybe, more accurately, I haven't had a strong enough desire to make fresh pasta. Did you find it made a big difference?
The ravioli was YUMMY. The homemade pasta was wonderful, so tender and light, a lot different even than fresh pasta purchased at the supermarket.
I think making the pasta will become much easier once I've done it a few times. To make enough ravioli for 4 hearty servings, it took 2 hours start to table, with lots of time for wine and conversation. Making unfilled pasta would have cut the time in half.
If you life Mexican food, try the squash enchiladas. I had leftovers for lunch and they were even better today, wow....
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