Ravioli ...OH

What? Make your own ravioli? YES! This is your challenge if you should choose to accept it. It's not nearly as hard as you may think...and I promise that you'll impress the pants off of whoever you serve them to (including yourself). Making your own organic pasta is both fun and rewarding. Granted, it requires a bit more planning and time than tearing open a box-o-dried pasta and dumping it into the boiling water, BUT, the fresh taste is worth every bit of planning. PLUS you'll be saving the landfill from all of that extra packaging. The tools needed are simple. A pasta machine (mine is a manual crank roller that you can buy for around $25) and a ravioli cutter (They come different shapes and sizes. I like my square one because it fits the shape of the pasta strips so that there is little or no waste when cutting) If theses tools are not available to you, you can still produce decent ravioli by rolling the dough out with a rolling pin, cutting the ravioli squares with a knife and crimping the edges with a fork.

When making homemade ravioli you shouldn't be afraid to think "out of the box"  You can fill them with virtually anything. 
So how does Butternut Squash and Roasted Garlic Ravioli sound? 
OK kids, here we go...

The first order of business is to get your squash roasting.  

Cut it in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds and place cut side down in a roasting pan along with 2 whole heads of garlic. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. The skin of the squash will look loose and the flesh should be tender enough to mash. The garlic should also feel tender and will smell FANTASTIC.

While the Squash and Garlic are roasting, make the Ravioli Dough

Ingredients:
2 cups organic unbleached flour
3 eggs
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil

In a medium bowl, mix flour and salt. Push the flour up the sides of bowl, creating a crater in the center. Fill the crater with eggs and oil. Start mixing together using a fork. As the dough comes together, mix with your hands.  

Once the dough looks like this, take it out of the bowl and knead briefly until the it becomes smooth and "elasticy". As you knead, you are actually activating the gluten in the flour. This is what creates the elastic feel (to test for elasticity in the dough, gently push a finger into it, if the dough springs back, you've got it!)  Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge to rest for about 30 minutes (this dough can also be used to make fresh lasagna noodles)  

Now get started on the filling.

Filling Ingredients:
1 Organic Butternut Squash*                                    
2 heads Roasted Garlic                                         
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/8 tsp ground sage
a pinch of ground cardamon
salt
fresh ground pepper
1 Tbsp heavy cream
1/3+ cup fresh grated Parmesan OR Asiago cheese 

* Butternut squash is another one of those wonderful veggies loaded with good for you properties. It contains Anti-oxidants, is rich in Vitamins A and C plus rich in the B complex group of vitamins. It has no saturated fats or cholesterol, is high in fiber, low in calories and contains minerals like iron zinc, copper, calcium, potassium and phosphorus. A lot to feel good about, BUT, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU BUY IT ORGANICALLY GROWN (organic AND locally grown is optimum). It seems that winter squash plants are especially good at mobilizing and absorbing contaminants from the soil. When you buy organic it's like buying extra health insurance. Today's standard commercial growing practices are laden with nasty chemicals and fertilizers. Do you really want to eat that?

OK back to the recipe...  

Saute onions with a pinch of salt in olive oil over med-low flame until golden brown but not crisp. Scoop out the flesh of the roasted squash and add to the onions. Cook for a few minutes to evaporate any extra moisture in the squash.

Next, add the Roasted Garlic, Sage, Cardamon and Pepper. Stir, smashing the garlic slightly. Add the Heavy Cream and Cheese. Salt to taste, another quick stir and VWA-LA the filling is complete.

It's time to assemble the ravioli!

Working with half the dough at a time (keeping the other half covered so as not to dry it out), roll out two strips of dough the same size. On my pasta machine, I take it down to a "3" on the dial for thickness. Lie the rolled dough out onto a floured surface (I use semolina flour for this part). Spoon out teaspoon sized dollops of filling onto one strip of dough. The spacing in between dollops should be determined by the size of your ravioli cutter. Next, brush the edges of the dough and in between the filling with egg. Carefully place the other strip of dough on top, stretching to fit and pressing out air in between each ravioli.

 

Now press the cutter carefully over each ravioli to cut them out. Repeat the process. Yield = 24-30 Ravioli depending on size

Gently place them into boiling water for 3-5 minutes. Toss with Pesto or Brown Butter/Sage sauce or simply drizzle with Olive Oil. Any way you choose to top them, they are sure to please.

The finished product topped with pesto- YUM!

As we dined on these divine little beauties, my eleven year old son declared "If I ate these for the rest of my life, I would die a happy man."