Butternut Squash Ravioli

This recipe unknowingly provided me the inspiration for Test Kitchen Tuesday.

Picture it: Bellevue, Washington, 2010. It was a dreary day in November, and I had been trying to figure out how to serve my husband a new dinner with butternut squash in it. Those of us that know him well call him “2Chili” due to his fondness for chili and the lady at our chili place yelling “2ChiliBreadBowl” when we order, but I digress. I knew he would never eat straight up butternut squash, but he had mentioned to me some time back that he had once tried butternut squash ravioli, and quite liked it. Anytime 2Chili mentions he likes something that does not involve massive amounts of sugar, ketchup, or barbeque sauce I take notice.

So, I set out to make butternut squash ravioli. I read a ton of food blogs (don’tcha love the magic of RSS? It’s like the content just comes to you when you need it most) and came across a recipe for pumpkin and goat cheese ravioli. I reckoned with a few simple tweaks, I’d be in business, and made the dough and filling one Tuesday morning so that all I had to do after work was roll out, fill, and cook the ravioli. Little did I know we’d end up having dinner company that night. Instead of falling back on something tried and true, 2Chili insisted he was “all in” with the ravioli, and to make it anyway. When our guest showed up, I informed him he was in for either a real treat, or a real disaster. We didn’t know yet! And, that day, Test Kitchen Tuesday was born.

Butternut Squash Ravioli

Printer Friendly Word Document Recipe

Original Recipe/Inspiration: Scratch Made Pumpkin and Goat Cheese Ravioli

Time Required:

10 minutes to prep dough and filling, not counting time for cooking your squash
30 minutes to chill dough in fridge
30 minutes to cut out and fill
6-8 minutes to cook

Skill Level (out of a possible 5):

2Chili’s Taster Rating (out of a possible 5):

Serves: 4-5, depending on your appetite

FILLING:

Mix the following ingredients in a medium bowl until they are blended smoothly and store in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.

1/2 cup butternut squash puree (Your squash should be cooked: e.g., roasted or steamed, and then you can puree it in a food processor. It takes about 1 cup of cubes to make 1/2 cup puree.)
3-5 oz reduced fat cream cheese
Kosher salt to taste
Dried or fresh rosemary to taste (Note: 2Chili did not like the rosemary, which is why he didn’t give this 5 stars – you might want to omit it)

DOUGH:

Mix the following ingredients in a large bowl until you have a dough consistency. Add the water slowly to make sure you don’t add too much. The dough should hold together without being sticky. Roll into a ball and place in the refrigerator for at least 1/2 hour to let the gluten settle down.

2 cups flour (Any type will work, but I used whole wheat for me and unbleached white for 2Chili)
2 whole eggs
1/4-1/2 cup of water
Pinch of kosher salt

RAVIOLI:

You’ll need:

1 egg white
Kitchen paintbrush or any type of brush you can fashion
Extra flour
Rolling pin
Clean counter or wax paper, for rolling out the dough

Making ravioli

Separate an egg and discard the yolk, keeping the white in a small bowl
Dust your working surface with a bit of flour and roll out a golf-ball sized piece of dough until it is super thin, but thick enough to hold filling
Cut out ravioli into whatever shape you’d like. I used a wine glass, but you could use cookie cutters or pretty much anything of a shape and size you like
Take one piece of cut out dough and add 1/2 tablespoon filling to the center of the dough (or an appropriate amount for the size of your cutout) – you should have clear space all around the filling to close up the ravioli
Brush a little bit of egg white on the exposed dough around the edges – this is to help seal the top and bottom together
Apply a second cutout on top of your dough/filling combo, and press around the edges to seal; I used a fork to clamp the edges down, just to make sure they wouldn’t come open
Repeat this process until you have used up all the dough and filling

Cooking ravioli

Boil some lightly salted water in a large pot; You should have plenty of water to make sure all the ravioli will be covered. I normally don’t endorse salted water for pasta, but in this case, you really don’t want the ravioli to stick, so throw in a pinch of salt
Add the ravioli and cook 6-8 minutes. You’ll know they’re done with they start floating on the surface

Sauce

I just used our favorite tomato basil pasta sauce (Walnut Acres Organic Low Sodium Tomato Basil) with a little fresh parmesan on top, but I think a cream sauce or just a light olive oil sauce would also be good

Nutritional Profile, based on 4 servings:

Calories: 326
Total Fat: 6.4g
Saturated Fat: 2.9g
Sodium: 205.3mg
Carbohydrates: 53.4g
Fiber: 2.4g
Sugars: .9g
Protein: 12.8g

The Verdict: For us, this one is a keeper. It seems fancy, but really isn’t that hard! It does take a little time to make, so don’t take this on if you are in a hurry. But, it would be a great one to make ahead on the weekend, since the actual cooking time of the prepared ravioli is minimal. Just make up a batch and store for up to 5 days in the fridge, or a couple months in the freezer. Add a simple spinach salad and some bread, and you’re all set!