Squash Ricotta Ravioli Recipes

SQUASH & RICOTTA RAVIOLI

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4.
• In a tray, roast the squash whole for 1 hour. Add the ricotta and roast for another 30 minutes, or until the squash is cooked through.
• Halve it in the tray, discarding the skin and seeds. Pick, finely chop and add the basil leaves, then mash it all with the ricotta, scraping up any sticky bits from the tray. Taste, season to perfection, and cool.
• To make the pasta dough, put the eggs and flour into a food processor and whiz into a ball of dough. Knead on a flour-dusted surface until smooth. Cut in half, wrap in clingfilm and rest for 30 minutes.
• Flatten one piece of dough by hand. Run it through the thickest setting on a pasta machine, then take the rollers down two settings and run it through again to make it thinner.
• Now, fold it in half and run it back through the thickest setting again, repeating this a few times for super-smooth dough. Start rolling the sheet down through each setting, lightly dusting with flour as you go. Turn the crank with one hand while the other maintains just a little tension to avoid any kinks or folds.
• Take it right down to 1mm, then lay the sheet flat and stamp out circles with a 12cm cutter.
• Working quickly, spoon 1 heaped teaspoon of filling into the middle of each, lightly brush the exposed pasta with water, fold into half-moon shapes over the filling, gently pressing to squeeze out any air, and seal. Repeat with the second ball of dough.
• Warm the sauce in a pan over a medium heat, and in batches cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water for just 2 minutes.
• Toss the pasta with the sauce and rocket and serve with finely grated Parmesan, finished with a few drips of extra virgin olive oil.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH RAVIOLI

Steps:

• For the pasta dough: Mix both flours together in a bowl. Make a fountain in the center and add the eggs, olive oil and some salt. Mix with your hands, adding just enough water for the dough to bind. You want to have a ball of dough that is fairly hard and a little dry, so add very little water. Cover with a towel and let set for an hour or so.
• For the filling: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Cut the butternut in half lengthwise and lay the squash on a baking sheet. Take 100g of the butter and divide it among each cavity of the squash. Sprinkle a little bit of brown sugar on top and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until it starts to brown and the squash are soft to the tip of a knife, about 45 minutes.
• With a large spoon, scrape the squash off the skin into a bowl and set aside.
• Dice the onion about 1/8 inch; chop the garlic and thinly cut the sage.
• In a large saucepan on medium heat, heat up the olive oil. Add the onion and saute until golden brown. Then add the garlic and sage and sweat a little longer. Add the squash, season with salt and pepper and cook on medium heat until it has the consistency of a puree. Move to a food processor and pulse briefly to remove the large chunks.
• In a bowl, add the ricotta, season with salt and pepper and add to the squash puree. Fill a piping bag with the filling.
• Roll the dough with your pasta machine. Using a ravioli mold, fill each ravioli with the butternut squash filling.
• Cook the ravioli in a large saucepot with plenty of boiling salted water. Then saute in the remaining butter. Enjoy.