Butternut Ravioli With Sage Butter And Italian Sausage Recipes

BUTTERNUT SQUASH RAVIOLI WITH SAGE-BROWN BUTTER SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Place the squash cut side up on a baking sheet. Place 1 tablespoon butter in the hollow of each half. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Cover the squash with a sheet of aluminum foil tucking in the edges.
• Bake squash in preheated oven until tender and easily pierced with a fork, 45 to 65 minutes.
• Scoop the cooked squash into a bowl, and mash until smooth. Mix in the allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, and Parmesan cheese until well blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Fill a deep pot with lightly salted water and bring to a boil.
• To make the ravioli, place a wonton wrapper on a clean, flat surface. Brush edges with the egg white. Place about 1 tablespoon of the squash mixture in the middle of the wonton. Cover with a second wonton wrapper. Repeat with remaining wonton wrappers and squash mixture until all have been used.
• Drop the ravioli into the boiling water, and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, or until tender. Remove, drain, and keep warm until sauce is prepared.
• To make the sauce, melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the sage. Continue to cook and stir until the sage is crispy but not browned. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place 6 to 8 raviolis on serving plates, and drizzle with sauce.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND ITALIAN SAUSAGE SOUP

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Lightly coat the squash halves with 1 teaspoon of the vegetable oil. Season the inside with salt and pepper and place cut-side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake until very tender, about 45 minutes. When the squash is cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh and reserve. Discard the peel.
• In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, add the remaining vegetable oil and, when hot but not smoking, add the sausage. Cook until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until the onions wilted and starting to caramelize, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic, sage and marjoram, and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the cooked squash and chicken stock, stir well to combine, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• With a hand-held immersion blender, or in batches in a food processor or blender, puree the soup. Strain through a fine mesh strainer into a clean saucepan. Add the cider vinegar and stir to combine. Add the cream and adjust seasoning, to taste.
• In a small saute pan, cook the butter over medium-high heat until it begins to turn brown around the edges. Add the whole sage leaves and cook until crisp, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer the leaves to paper towels to drain.
• Serve the soup in bowls, garnished with the crispy sage leaves.

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.

BUTTERNUT RAVIOLI WITH SAGE BUTTER AND ITALIAN SAUSAGE

Steps:

• In a heavy-bottomed skillet, melt a tablespoon of butter. Saute the garlic over medium-low heat until translucent and very soft. Chop a few of the sage leaves and add them to the skillet. Sprinkle with Kosher salt and saute for another minute or so, until the leaves crisp up a little bit. In a large bowl, scrape the contents of the skillet in with the mashed squash. Add the Parmesan and nutmeg, and combine well. Set aside. Now, I am funny about the wonton wrappers: I don't think they hold up very well unless they're doubled up. So, I use 4 wrappers per ravioli, brushing one side of a wonton wrapper with egg wash and then laying another wrapper on top of it, pressing to seal. I repeat this process with another pair of wrappers. Then, spoon filling on top of one double sheet, then top with the other double sheet and seal the edges with egg wash. It's a little extra trouble to do it this way, but I once had a whole batch fall apart in the boiling water with only single sheets, so I prefer to play it safe. (Of course, homemade pasta would be best). Once the ravioli are assembled, set them aside. Bring a pot of water to boil. Add the ravioli and cook until they float, about 3 or 4 minutes. (You may have to do this in batches). Drain and arrange on plates. While the ravioli are cooking, brown the sausage in the skillet (the one you cooked the garlic in) until cooked through. Remove with a slotted spoon. Add the butter and cook over medium until it's just beginning to turn golden. Add the pine nuts and remaining whole sage leaves. Stir and cook until the sage leaves are crispy. Watch carefully so that the butter doesn't burn. Divide the sauce evenly between the plates of ravioli. Top with the sausage and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Serves 2 hungry people for dinner, with a couple of extra ravioli left over. -Inspired by Megan's recipe for Sweet Potato Ravioli

BASIC RAVIOLI WITH A BUTTER-SAGE SAUCE

Steps:

• For the filling: Add the ricotta, Parmigiano and eggs and sprinkle with salt in a bowl. Adjust seasoning if needed. Put the filling in a pastry bag and reserve.
• For the pasta: Set the pasta roller on the widest setting (#1). Start with half the pasta dough; keep the other half covered until ready to use. Using your hands, flatten the dough as much as you can to facilitate it going through the pasta roller. Run the dough through the roller, twice dusting it in between rolls if it feels sticky. Fold the dough into thirds and turn it 90 degrees (a quarter turn) and run it through the pasta machine 2 to 3 times. Move the roller to the next setting (#2) and run the pasta through. Dust lightly with flour if the dough feels sticky. Continue to run the dough through the machine reducing the opening (or moving the setting to the next larger number) in between every roll. Stop when you get to the correct thinness, this will usually be around number 5 or 6 on the dial, but every machine is different, you will have to be the judge of your own pasta thickness.
• To assemble the ravioli: Lay out the dough on a flat surface. Brush the lower half of the dough (the part that is closest to you) lightly with water. This is the glue that will hold the ravioli together. Use the glue sparingly, if you use too much the pasta will slide and not stick. Pipe 1-inch balls of filling onto the pasta that has been brushed with water, leaving about 2 inches between each ball. Fold the top half of the pasta down over the filling to meet the bottom edge. Using your index fingers, poke around each filling ball to seal the ravioli shut, AND to make sure that there are no air bubbles. Using a fluted round cutter or a fluted pastry wheel or even a drinking glass, cut out each ravioli. Transfer to a sheet tray dusted with semolina or polenta and reserve until ready to use.
• To cook the ravioli and make the sauce: Add the butter to a large saute pan and bring to a medium heat. Add 1 cup of chicken stock and season with salt. Shake the pan to incorporate the butter and stock, and simmer until the stock has reduced a bit and the sauce looks velvety and is the consistency of heavy cream. If the sauce thickens too much, adjust the consistency with chicken stock. Add the sage and season with salt.
• Add the ravioli to the pot of boiling water and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Carefully remove the ravioli from the cooking water and put them immediately into the sauce. Bring the sauce to a boil, shaking frequently to be sure that the ravioli don'(TM)t stick to the bottom of the pan.
• Transfer the ravioli to a serving platter. Mangia Bene!
• Put the flour on a clean, dry work surface. Make a hole (this is also called a well) in the center of the flour pile that is about 8 inches wide (bigger is definitely better here). Crack all of the eggs and the yolk into the hole and add the olive oil, salt and water.
• Using a fork, beat the eggs together with the olive oil, salt and water. Using the fork, begin to incorporate the flour into the egg mixture; be careful not to break the sides of the well or the egg mixture will run all over your board and you will have a big mess! Also, don't worry about the lumps. When enough flour has been incorporated into the egg mixture that it will not run all over the place when the sides of the well are broken, begin to use your hands to really get everything well combined. If the mixture is tight and dry, wet your hands and begin kneading with wet hands. When the mixture has really come together to a homogeneous mixture, THEN you can start kneading.
• When kneading it is VERY important to put your body weight into it, get on top of the dough to really stretch it and not tear the dough. Using the heels of your palms, roll the dough to create a very smooooooth, supple dough. When done, the dough should look VERY smooth and feel almost velvety. Kneading will usually take from 8 to 10 minutes for an experienced kneader and 10 to 15 for an inexperienced kneader. Put your body weight into it, you need to knead! This is where the perfect, toothsome texture of your pasta is formed. Get in there and have fun!
• When the pasta has been kneaded to the perfect consistency, wrap it in plastic and let rest for at least 1 hour. If using immediately do not refrigerate.
• Roll and cut the pasta into desired shape. How smooth and supple!

SAGE-PECAN BUTTERNUT SQUASH RAVIOLI

Steps:

• Cook ravioli according to package directions., Meanwhile, in a large dry skillet, toast pecans over medium-low heat 1-2 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally. Stir in butter until melted. Stir in brown sugar, salt, nutmeg and cayenne. Remove from heat; stir in cream and sage., Drain ravioli; add to skillet and toss to coat. Top with cheese.