Tag Archives: ravioli

Perfect for Autumn

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Made a new recipe for our cooking club yesterday.  It was the first time I’d been in a couple of months and I needed some time for just me.  I’ve been so incredibly busy with helping my husband open his restaurant (it opened one week ago today) —doing whatever I could to get it off the ground running in the right direction (helped with menu, made some desserts, created some cocktails).  I paid a sitter for several nights to go in and pick up the slack wherever it was needed (running food, bartending, waiting or bussing tables) to work for free.  Not that I can afford to, but I want to dedicate my experience for our long-term success.  Most restaurants are disorganized and discombobulated in the beginning and ours was packed from the moment it opened.

So… a friend gave me a gorgeously designed book as a restaurant opening gift (I think she designed the book) about decorating/gardening/entertaining for a particular season.  It has recipes interspersed and one caught my eye.  It was for curried pumpkin ravioli with an apple onion sauce.  Our cooking club theme this month was pumpkins and apples. How perfect, I thought. 

Well, I took it and modified it a bit.  First off, I used Butternut squash instead of pumpkin and I roasted mine whole (it keeps all the sweetness from running out) instead of canned pumpkin and I added some different spices, and substituted pecans for walnuts.  You will need time for this recipe but it pays off! I made a similar dish another fall.

Curried Butternut Squash Ravioli 
(adapted from a Pumpkin Ravioli recipe by Carolyne Roehm)

½ stick butter (divided)
1 lg shallot, finely chopped
2 tsp fresh ginger, finely grated
2 lg cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp curry powder
¼ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp cumin
⅛ tsp cayenne
½ tsp salt
pinch black pepper
1-2 butternut squash, cooked whole, peeled, seeded & pureed
12 oz ricotta cheese (whole milk)
1 pack of wonton wrappers

Sauce:
1 med onion, finely chopped
2 Macintosh apples, peeled, cored & cubed
¼ cup white wine
¼ cup pecans, chopped
1 cup chicken stock
¼ cup heavy cream

First cook the butternut squash on a cookie sheet in the oven at 350˚F for an hour or more (depends on size/thickness).  You can tell when it’s done when you stick a skewer through the densest part (near base of neck). Not a clear photo, but hopefully you get the gist.

(Didn’t use cloves in the end)

Next melt a couple of tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add shallots and sauté until soft.  Turn heat to medium and add ginger, garlic, spices and some salt.  Sauté another few minutes then add 3 cups of butternut squash.  Mix well and continue to cook for a few minutes.  Remove and cool.  Add the ricotta cheese and cool for at least half an hour.

Before adding ricotta

Using parchment paper on a cookie sheet lay out some wonton wrappers.  Take a teaspoon and drop a dollop of filling in center.  Wet edges of wrapper with water and your finger.  Place another wonton wrapper on top and press around the edges to seal.  Pick up the ravioli with an open seam at top then carefully burp the air out (so that it won’t open when brought up to temp).  Press sealed edges with a fork if you wish.  Repeat. Once the first set of ravioli has filled the sheet, place another piece of parchment on top and continue until you’ve run out of wrappers or filling. Cover with a slightly damp piece of paper towel.

Start the sauce by cooking onions in a sauté pan with a couple of tablespoons of melted butter (and I use a touch of grapeseed or sunflower seed oil) until translucent then add apples and wine.  Simmer for a couple of minutes then add the chicken stock and pecans.  Cook until apples are soft then set aside while you cook the ravioli.

Bring large pot of water to rolling boil.  Carefully place a few ravioli in at a time.  While a batch is cooking bring sauce back up to heat (medium-high) add cream and simmer for a minute.  Ravioli take about 3 minutes to cook (translucent and floating).  Scoop ravioli out with slotted spoon or mesh spyder, draining well. 

Top with sauce and serve immediately. 

It was so delicious and worth the effort.  But unfortunately only one of my children will eat it!  Maybe you’ll have better luck… actually today I’m going to try with a different sauce with some leftover uncooked ones.

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Chicken Spinach Ravioli with Cherry Tomato Sauce

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I am working on my list of healthier nut-free snacks to contrast what the kids’ school nurse sent home. In the meantime thought I’d share this awesome ravioli my husband made on the boys’ first day of school at my suggestion.  It’s funny sometimes:I buy all the ingredients and just have to tell him what I have in mind.  Then he cooks it.  He cuts faster, cooks and  knows what to do better than I do, so it works well.  I just help whatever he needs help with. And he loves to cook.

He used wonton skin wrappers that I buy in the grocery section of supermarket.  They make wonderfully thin raviolis so you get more taste of the fillings.  Poach chicken breast in water for 5 minutes (until done but not tough).  Sauté ½ small onion, minced and then 2 cloves garlic, minced both in olive oil.  Add pound of spinach until wilted.  Blend in food processor with chicken, tsp porcini powder and salt & pepper.  Mix in ½ cup of ricotta cheese.  Spoon in dollop onto center of a wrap, moisten edges and press another wrap on top gently squeezing any air out before sealing.   Press edges with a fork.  Keep on cookie sheet dusted with corn meal until ready. When nearly time to serve put in gently boiling water for about 5 minutes and remove with straining spoon.   

Served with a simple cherry tomato sauce.  Take several handfuls of cherry tomatoes (we used orange cherry tomatoes) cut in half, Tbsp of fresh basil chopped, 2 tsp olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and ¼ cup of chicken stock.  Cook until tomatoes are tender, stirring often.  So easy and delicious!

We served ours with a green salad. The boys weren’t too keen on trying the sauce but I finally got my eldest to try it.  His aversion is to the seeds.  My middle son was a bit easier but my youngest flat out refused.  They all loved the ravioli but next time asked for it without sauce.  Oh well.  Different sauce for them next time or just butter! My son loves to spike & color his hair for first & last days of school.

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Manic Kitchen Maniac Part II (Roast Butternut Squash Ravioli)

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So, I was cooking and baking up a storm…  I had limited time before I had to take my preschooler to the library for story time and then afterwards  the other two would come off the school bus.  I was bringing them over to a friend’s house for an autumn party following pumpkin picking.  I knew the ravioli would take some time— an hour and half to create 30 raviolis!  It had taken an hour and half (which is really passive time) to roast the butternut squash the day before, so this is a time consuming recipe— hands on time is just about 2 hours.  And I’m using wonton wrappers that you can get in the produce section of supermarket.  (Faster and easier than homemade pasta, but they’re fresh and delicious.) But, if you have the time, take it or make it if you don’t.  These were beyond my expectations (and I was pretty sure they’d be good).

Roast Butternut Squash Ravioli

Filling:

2 1/2 cups roasted butternut squash

2 eggs

1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg

Maple syrup to taste (approximately 2 tsp)

salt and pepper to taste

Using food mill over a bowl purée the squash.  Add the eggs and mix until well combined. Add cheese, nutmeg and salt and pepper. If needed, add maple syrup to taste preference. On a floured surface, place a dollop of mixture on wonton wrapper (about teaspoon for small round, 1-2 tsp for larger square wontons).  Brush water along edges, then place second wonton on top, press one edge together well, pick up and while carefully squeezing air out (burp) press the rest of two wontons together.  Place the ravioli on a cookie tray dusted with corn meal until your ready to cook.  Repeat for desired amount.  I made 30 with this recipe and had enough filling for another 5.  In a wide pot boil water.  Depending on your pot, place about 8 raviolis at a time in soft- rolling boil for about 5 minutes.  Don’t crowd, too many might stick together.  Place on serving plate, add sprinkle of fresh Parmesan cheese, pour butter sauce over and serve immediately.

Brown Butter Sauce:

Stick of butter

cup whole fresh sage leaves (destemmed)

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

In a sauté pan melt 1/4 stick of butter over medium-high heat until it starts frothing.  Add sage until it crisps.  Take off heat immediately and either serve or keep warm.  Sprinkle cheese on each individual ravioli and pour butter over.  Repeat for each serving.   Took photo before the last two were eaten!  Butter sauce little over done on last round.

I prepared them before the library and prior to a pumpkin picking hayride with a group of friends and their kids and then actually cooked the ravioli and sauce when we had gathered at a friend’s post-hayride.  

The adults loved this as did the kids willing to try it.  My youngest wouldn’t yet, but I imagine one day in the not too distant future, he’ll be gobbling them up too.  They were divine— I was nervous since I’d never made them before and appreciated the enthusiastic reviews.  I actually made them again two days later at another friend’s because she missed out on the gathering and so that my eldest could try some since they were all gone by the time he got round to eating the previous day.  It’s hard when the kids are around so many others (there were at least 20 kids) they tend to play and play and not eat even when told it’s time— until they’re absolutely famished.  When my eldest son finally did try them, he too loved them.

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