Whole Wheat Squash Ravioli With Sage Butter

serves 2-4
Recipe from cookthink

Emboldened by his recent foray into recipe-less gnocchi, Brys decided to try his hand at homemade whole wheat ravioli. Read more about how he developed this recipe on the Cookthink blog.

instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 450F. Peel the winter squash and cut it into quarters. Remove the seeds, and arrange on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and roast in the oven until softened, about 35 minutes.

2. Put the flour and eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on medium speed until it forms a dough and pulls away from the sides. Switch to a dough hook and knead for 15 minutes. Roll the kneaded dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

3. When the squash has finished cooking, allow it to cool. Then purée it in a food processor with the olive oil until smooth. Mix in the ricotta, parmesan, red pepper flakes, parsley and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Remove dough from the refrigerator, unwrap it and sprinkle it with a tablespoon of flour to keep it from sticking. Cut the dough into quarters, and flatten them with the heel of your hand. Feed the dough into the pasta roller on the largest setting, flouring it between rolls to keep it from sticking, until you have a long, even sheet. Continue to pass the dough through the rollers on progressively thinner settings until it is thin enough to cook quickly, but thick enough to hold its filling (approximately the thickness of linguine).

5. Cut the long sheet of pasta lengthwise into thirds. Place a tablespoon of filling along the bottom half of the strip, leaving an equal space above the filling so that the pasta can be folded over to create a square. Repeat at even intervals, approximately two finger widths apart.

6. Fold the pasta sheet over the filling, and press your fingers around it to push out as much air as possible. Using a pastry cutter or a sharp knife, remove the excess pasta on the edges and separate the squares.

7. Set a pot of salted water on the stove to boil. When it reaches a rolling boil, cook the pasta for 3-5 minutes until it floats and the filling is heated through.

8. While the ravioli cooks, melt the butter in a medium sauté pan over medium heat. As soon as it's melted, add the sage and red pepper flakes to taste and cook until the butter browns slightly but does not burn. Lift the ravioli out of the water with a slotted spoon and gently place in the pan with the melted sage butter to coat. Grate some fresh parmesan over the ravioli before serving.