It’s fall and in much of the world that means it’s pumpkin season! If you’re reading this and it’s not pumpkin season, that’s ok, you can use a can of pumpkin in this recipe.
We had this for dinner last night and it was pretty delicious. My pasta was way too thick though, you really have to roll it out into sheets that are very thin and I didn’t have the time or strength for that. If rolling it out by hand isn’t your idea of fun see if you can get your hands on a pasta roller or buy won-ton wrappers in the produce section of your deli and use those instead.
My only word of caution is this: if you’re looking for a low calorie, low fat, low starch recipe or one that doesn’t require an hour of time…don’t read any further. Making from-scratch ravioli is a labor of love.
Pumpkin Ravioli with Brown Butter Cream Sauce
serves 6
Stage 1: Make the pasta dough
Ingredients
3 cups flour
5 eggs
2 T olive oil
The easy way: Add the flour, eggs and 1 Tbsp oil into a food processor and mix, drizzling the additional oil over it as it mixes. Remove dough from food processor when it’s a solid ball, place in a bowl and cover. Let the dough rest for about 30 minutes. Wipe out the food processor because you’ll need it again.
The hard way: Place the flour in a large bowl. Beat the eggs and oil, make a well in the flour and pour the eggs/oil into it. Mix well, turn onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes. Place in a bowl and cover. Let the dough rest for about 30 minutes.
Stage 2: Make the pumpkin filling
Ingredients
about 1lb of roasted pumpkin* (that’s about a 2 lb pie pumpkin or 1 can)
1/2 onion, chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves pulled off
salt & pepper to taste
2/3 C heavy whipping cream
In a large skillet sautee the pumpkin and onion in oil until the pumpkin is nice and soft. Add the salt, pepper and thyme leaves and sautee for 2 more minutes. Transfer mixture to food processor and blend until the pumpkin is smooth.
Return the pumpkin to the skillet. Stir in the cream and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes until the mixture is nice and thick. Remove from heat and allow to cool down to room temperature.
*To roast a pumpkin cut it into pieces and scrape out the seeds. Place the pieces on a baking tray and coat with butter, salt, & pepper. Roast at 400 degrees for 40 minutes to 2 hours, depending on how large and thick the pumpkin is.
Stage 3: Make the raviolis
Ingredients
prepared pasta dough
prepared pumpkin filling
1 egg, beaten (water works too)
Divide the pasta into 4 sections. Roll out one section until it’s about 1/16″ thick. If you’re not sure of the thickness then it’s not thin enough, trust me on this one. The pasta will thicken as it cooks so you want it to be as thin as possible without breaking apart.
Using a pizza or pastry cutter cut the rolled-out dough into strips about 2 1/2″ wide, then cut the strips into pieces that are about 4″ long.
Place one teaspoon of filling on one end of the dough strip, about 1/2 inch from the end. Brush the egg around the edge of the dough strip. Fold the strip over and use a fork to seal the edges. Place the ravioli to the side until it’s dry.
Stage 4: Make the sauce
Ingredients
4 Tbsp butter
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 cup heavy whipping cream
In a heavy skillet over medium heat melt the butter, and let it keep cooking until it gets nice and brown. This takes a few minutes but the browner it gets the sweeter it is. To the browned butter add the thyme leaves and cream. Mix well and reduce the heat to medium-low, simmer until the sauce is thick enough to coat the spoon.
Stage 5: Cook the Ravioli
I like to get the water on the stove before I start my cream sauce so the pasta is done cooking just as the sauce is finishing up.
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Carefully drop the ravioli in and stir. If the dough is very thin boil the ravioli for about 3 minutes, the thicker the dough the longer they will need to boil. Drain the pasta well. I like to put the raviolis in the sauce and toss to coat well but if you’re going for presentation put the pasta on a plate and pour some sauce over.
