The inspiration came from a wine glass, though the wine surprisingly had nothing to do with it. I was in the midst of a second bout with ravioli, and I was once again losing. I had all kinds of new tricks, but the stupid little pockets of filling still looked atrocious. I was cutting the ravioli smaller, trying to keep the edge as thin as possible, and even making little indentations with a fork. Yet, they managed to look even worse than the last ones. We cooked one, this time for only 4 minutes, and were let down. They still weren't good.
I needed a way to make each pocket the same size, but they were so small that no glass I had would have worked. I took another sip of my wine and then looked down at the rim of the glass. For some reason I like to drink wine out of smaller glasses, and not big honking ones the size of vases. I noticed that it was exactly the same size as the ravioli that I was trying to make. So I downed my glass, flipped it over, and carefully cut out the raviolis into perfect little circles. They cooked up perfectly in 4 minutes. And when paired with a little butter and sage sauce, were some of the best bites I've had in the New Year. It was so easy.
What a difference. My last batch was so unremarkable, I'm sure some frozen ones from the local grocery chain would have beat them. I had read a lot about ravioli before making the first batch, but afterwards I went into a ravioli reading frenzy. The biggest thing I noticed is that there was no standard ravoili, no specific dimension for its shape, or even kind of shape. I had worried so much about the cooking time, but perhaps I needed to start at the very beginning.
What kind of flour should I use? I had quite quickly settled on 100% Semolina flour when I first made tagliatelle, because I loved the bite that it gave my fresh pasta. When I made the first batch of ravioli, I just started there, figuring it would work for all fresh pasta recipes. But as I read more and more, I noticed that most of the recipes specifically called for all-purpose flour. Perhaps the flour would produce a softer, more luscious ravioli.
How much filling should I use? I had used about a tablespoon of the spinach ricotta mixture for my last batch. But they became too unwieldy. I decided to follow the advice of a few recipes and a wonderful commenter, and only use a teaspoon of filling for each one.
I also switched the filling. Though I'm sure a great ravioli can be made with the spinach and ricotta filling, it's been a part of every single ravioli failure. I realized the jinx, and switched to a butternut squash filling. I found a great recipe at Digs Magazine.
How many raviolis can I get from a sheet of pasta? It sounds like a minor problem, but nearly every ravioli recipe just said to haphazardly position the filling on a sheet of pasta and cover with another. Cut out your raviolis and you are done. But last time I realized without some order the sheets wouldn't overlap properly, some filling would squeeze out, and lots of pasta dough would be wasted. I needed some measurements. Thankfully, Digs Magazine had both a recipe, and very detailed instructions. If you use a pasta machine, the width of the sheet should be a standard 5 inches or so. On a 12 inch sheet you can fit 8 1-teaspoon fillings. Done.
I really can't express how wonderful this recipe was. It made my other versions look ridicuous. They were tender and the filling was sweet and luscious. Oddly, the all-purpose flour is also dramatically easier to use then Semolina flour. I whipped up the dough much quicker than I had ever before.
Butternut Squash Ravioli with Butter Sage Sauce
Serves 8
Butternut Squash Filling
- 2 butternut squashes, cut in half lengthwise
- 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
- 6 dashes cinnamon
- pinch of brown sugar
- salt
- olive oil
Pasta Dough
- 4 eggs
- 3½ cups flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons water
Butter Sage Sauce
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 8 sage leaves, thinly sliced
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Sprinkle the cut butter squashes with olive oil. Set in a roasting pan and place in the oven. Cook for 45 minutes or so, flipping halfway through. If they are still hard after 45 minutes give them some more time. You want them to be very tender.
Scoop out the flesh of the butternut squashes. Put the flesh in a bowl and then add the nutmeg, cinnamon, brown sugar, and salt. Mix well and add more brown sugar if necessary. Let it cool down before using.
While the squashes are roasting make the pasta dough. For detailed instructions check out my first post on fresh pasta dough. Let the ball rest for 30 minutes
Cut the ball into fourths and remove one of the pieces. Rewrap the other pieces so they don't dry out.
Roll the ball out using a pasta maker until it has gone through the thinnest setting. Again, for more detailed instructions check out the fresh pasta post. The sheet of pasta should be about 5 inches wide and a little over two feet. Measure out and cut one 12 inch by 5 inch sheet. Keep the other half for the top layer.
On the 12 inch by 5 inch sheet, place a teaspoon of the filling at least 1/2 inch from the edge and 1 inch from each other.
Cover with the other sheet. It should be slightly longer, so there should be overlap. Carefully form the filling, removing any big air pockets.
Using a wine glass, or any other glass with a dimension of 2 1/2 inches, cut out the raviolis.
Use your fingers to delicately seal the edges. You don't want too much of an edge, so be careful.
Repeat this process with the other 3 portions of pasta dough.
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. When melted, add the sage. Cook for a few minutes until sage is slightly crispy. Be sure not to burn the sage. If it is done cooking, then turn the heat to low.
Cook the ravioli for 3 to 4 minutes. Check one at 3 minutes to see if you like the texture. If it's ready take them all out. If it's not quite done give them an extra minute. I wouldn't go much further than that.
Move them directly to the skillet with the butter sage sauce. Turn the heat to medium-high, and toss the ravioli with the sauce until coated. Add some pasta water if the skillet looks too dry.
Remove, season with salt and pepper and a little Parmesan. Serve.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Congratulations! These look beautiful, and I'm sure they tasted fantastic. Isn't it a pleasure to finally feel like you've figured out a challenging technique in the kitchen? Hats off to you for sharing what you've learned with the rest of us! I will have to add ravioli to my homemade challenge list.
butternut squash ravioli with butter sage sauce has been on my with list of things to cook for a long time. hopefully your instructions will make it go smoothly when i finally get around to it!
Double congrats…this is our favorite ravioli flavor too.
Yay for you!
You may have figured this out already, but it's very easy to freeze your ravioli if there are extras (impossible!) or you want to make them ahead of time.
Just lay them out in a single layer on a semolina- or flour-dusted Silpat- (or parchment) lined cookie sheet. Freeze and then pop them off. Store *very* well wrapped in ziplocs.
You cook them directly from the freezer in *lots* of water. They will take about a minute longer to cook through.
On to tortellini!
As always your instructions and pictures are invaluable. I'm now looking for the best deal I can get on a hand crank pasta maker. Thank you!
These are sort of similar to pumpkin ravioli, from Bologna. They're also served with the sage butter – sometimes with the tiniest drop of lemon juice added, but there's no sugar or cinnammon in the filling. The sweetness is obtained with crumbled-up amaretti macaroons.
I've been playing around with the idea of getting a pasta machine – this tips me a little more toward yes!
Wow, that looks a bit advanced for me, but I sure would love to try it!
Wineglasses are wonderful cutters; they're my favorite biscuit-making tool. Cutting goes even better if you lightly flour the rim of the glass and push straight down onto your dough, rather than twisting the glass (this can make raggy edges).
Your photos and description are amazing! Thank you so much. I’ve also been struggling with the same ravioli issues, so I’ll see how the small wine glass goes.
Great idea. I actually bought premade butternut squash ravioli from Costco and my first try with a tomato sauce didn’t work out well. I’ll try this tonight!
This recipe was perfect….I didn’t add the Brown Sugar and they were still sweet. We have the pasta maker with the Ravioli attachment and used it. It worked great…it was only our 2nd time making ravioli and this batch turned out much better! Thanks for a great recipe. We have so much of the squash mixture left we froze that for future ravioli dinners.
Just tried your butter sage sauce and it was great. Next time I can find acorn squash I’ll attempt your raviolis too! Thanks for sharing.