Butternut Squash Ravioli

[Chris Hennes]

Serves me right for not even completely reading the recipe: I was so caught up in the notion of including them that I didn't even notice she didn't! So, I cooked and pureed the squash, sauteed a bit of onion and garlic, added a bit of sage, and combined it all with the cookies. Call it five cookies for about half of the squash (apparently channeling mattsrand's ratio in that regard, anyway). All of which is to say, not a particularly traditional rendition of the recipe. Damn, I guess I'll have to make them again: my wife will be crushed...

[Pierogi]

Phew, finally got around to making these tonight (I've been making a lot of fresh pasta lately now that I have that KitchenAid stand mixer attachment, what a joy to use!).....

Chris, I'm assuming the attachment is the roller and not extruder, right? I really want the roller, both for pasta and for pierogies (which are essentially an egg pasta dough), because I think it would take the last of the heavy-duty work away from my poor, old, arthritic hands and arms. Is your KA one of the mega-powerful ones, or the wussier Artisans like mine? I'm only afraid mine doesn't have enough power to run the thing, and that's what's stopping me.

[Kevin72]

Looks good Chris. Like how dense the filling looks.

Regarding the cookies, I like Mario Batali's technique of grating one amaretti on a microplane over them at the end. It doesn't get as overbearing as they can be when used in the stuffing.

Also on a lark one time I added a splash of Amaretto to the brown butter in place of the cookies and thought it did a good job.

[Chris Hennes]

Chris, I'm assuming the attachment is the roller and not extruder, right? I really want the roller, both for pasta and for pierogies (which are essentially an egg pasta dough), because I think it would take the last of the heavy-duty work away from my poor, old, arthritic hands and arms. Is your KA one of the mega-powerful ones, or the wussier Artisans like mine? I'm only afraid mine doesn't have enough power to run the thing, and that's what's stopping me.

Yes, the roller: and I have a 6qt model, but I don't think this attachment will be a problem for your Artisan model, at all. Rolling out pasta is not that stressful on the machine, I don't think.

[Pierogi]

Chris, I'm assuming the attachment is the roller and not extruder, right? I really want the roller, both for pasta and for pierogies (which are essentially an egg pasta dough), because I think it would take the last of the heavy-duty work away from my poor, old, arthritic hands and arms. Is your KA one of the mega-powerful ones, or the wussier Artisans like mine? I'm only afraid mine doesn't have enough power to run the thing, and that's what's stopping me.

Yes, the roller: and I have a 6qt model, but I don't think this attachment will be a problem for your Artisan model, at all. Rolling out pasta is not that stressful on the machine, I don't think.

Cool ! Thanks for the response. It goes on the "I want, I want, I want" list now.

[ChrisTaylor]

Could try a blue cheese, too.

[mmille24]

Does anybody have a replacement to amaretto cookies for the filling?

I am allergic to almonds.

[blue_dolphin]

I made butternut squash triangoli today using a filling from Evan Funke's recent book American Sfoglino.  The dough includes some stone-ground spelt flour, hence the darker color. 

 

 

I was expecting to tweak the filling to temper the sweetness of the squash but when I tasted it, I was pleasantly surprised with the intensity of the squash flavor so I used it as is.   I don't know that anyone's looked at this thread in years, and I already posted over in the Winter Squash cook-off thread but I though I'd share it here, too. 

I can't find an online source for the recipe in the book, but paraphrased, it is:

Butternut Squash Filling, he specifies the yield as about 1 QT

One 3-lb butternut squash, peeled and cubed

Kosher salt

1 stick unsalted butter

2 fresh sage leaves

Cook the squash in salted water until tender, drain and purée until smooth

Melt the butter in a skillet until bubbly, add the sage leaves and cook a min or so until they are fragrant

Add the squash and salt to taste.  Stir constantly for ~ 15 min, until thickened.  He specifies to avoid sticking and caramelization on the bottom of the pan. Cool completely and remove sage leaves before using. 

 

I roasted the squash (which I neglected to weigh)  instead of boiling and used a much more modest amount of butter (which I neglected to measure).  My cook time was a bit less than the specified 15 min. It was quite thick and had reduced to about half the original volume of purée when I took it off the heat.  

I would describe it as rich, intense and sweet, in that order.  Nothing was needed to temper the sweetness. Because they taste quite rich, next time I think I'll serve them on a bed of sautéed greens. 

 

Funke recommends briefly blanching filled pasta (just until they float) before refrigerating or freezing to avoid moist fillings from making the dough tacky.  I did this but haven't cooked any of them to see how they fare. The ones I cooked directly after making had a nice, rich texture and flavor.  

Edited October 28, 2019 by blue_dolphin
to add link (log)

[Okanagancook]

Nice post.  Thanks.  I find that blanching ravioli before freezing prevents them from cracking.

[Smithy]

I appreciate this writeup! The last time or two that I made (or attempted to make) squash ravioli, neither the filling nor the pasta result was satisfying. I'll try this idea next time around.

[kayb]

@Smithy -- If you are pasta-challenged --- or, like me, have never tried to make it and not sure you want to learn -- egg roll wrappers will suffice.

 

[Smithy]

12 hours ago, kayb said:

@Smithy -- If you are pasta-challenged --- or, like me, have never tried to make it and not sure you want to learn -- egg roll wrappers will suffice.

 

 

I tried using egg roll wrappers this summer for another filling altogether, and the lot fell apart during the boil. Are there any tricks to using egg roll wrappers as opposed to pasta?

[kayb]

If they're really thin, might try doubling them.

 

[blue_dolphin]

1 hour ago, Smithy said:

 

I tried using egg roll wrappers this summer for another filling altogether, and the lot fell apart during the boil. Are there any tricks to using egg roll wrappers as opposed to pasta?

 

If you look around eG, you'll find fans and haters of this method.  In her book, The Savory Way, Deborah Madison, uses wonton wrappers to make delicate ravioli which she says are more suited to a first course of 3 or 4 ravioli.  She recommends taking care to stretch the wrapper over the filling to avoid air pockets, using a ravioli crimper to seal the edges or wrapping and sealing as you would a wonton.   I remember making little triangular mushroom ravioli with mushroom sauce from her recipe.  They were more like a delicate dumpling than pasta but still nice. 

In my recent adventures with pasta, I've found it helps to keep the heat at a simmer rather than a boil with any of these filled pastas.  

 

[eugenep]

I was at GF's parents house and she had a butternut squash that was lying around that her co-worker gave her. 

 

I read from Charlie Trotter's book that you can turn any fruit or veg into a puree or soup 

 

I didn't make a butternut squash ravioli but turned it into a soup in a blind, no recipe way 

 

1 butternut squash 

1 stick butter 

4 cups water 

thyme, salt pepper 

 

I just chopped the squash into pieces and boiled for 1.5 hours and mashed it in the middle to create a puree soup 

 

it tasted kinda bland 

 

But I guess Trotter was right 

 

I guess you can "cook" any food but the difficulty is getting it to taste really good 

Edited November 12, 2019 by eugenep (log)

[heidih]

1 hour ago, eugenep said:

I guess you can "cook" any food but the difficulty is getting it to taste really good 

 

 

I'd have roasted the squash first to concentrate flavors and bring out the nutty sweetness. I'm not afraid of butter but that uis alot - it can bland out flavors. 

[eugenep]

18 minutes ago, heidih said:

 

I'd have roasted the squash first to concentrate flavors and bring out the nutty sweetness. I'm not afraid of butter but that uis alot - it can bland out flavors. 

maybe I added too much water too? I didn't want a thick puree but a soup so I added that much water 

 

and no access to food process or blender so I needed a watery texture and added the water and hoped to boil the heck out of the veg until it broke up on its own 

 

the texture actually came out okay after 1.5 hours of boil (don't know if it lost flavor from the prolonged heat) 

 

but - yes - maybe I should have browned the veg all over to get a sweet flavor from the carmelization or even browned the butter and added the thyme to "bloom" the flavor of the spice 

 

I was hoping to not add heavy cream and butter to make the soup taste good (very heavy) 

 

 

Edited November 12, 2019 by eugenep (log)

[gfweb]

11 hours ago, eugenep said:

maybe I added too much water too? I didn't want a thick puree but a soup so I added that much water 

 

and no access to food process or blender so I needed a watery texture and added the water and hoped to boil the heck out of the veg until it broke up on its own 

 

the texture actually came out okay after 1.5 hours of boil (don't know if it lost flavor from the prolonged heat) 

 

but - yes - maybe I should have browned the veg all over to get a sweet flavor from the carmelization or even browned the butter and added the thyme to "bloom" the flavor of the spice 

 

I was hoping to not add heavy cream and butter to make the soup taste good (very heavy) 

 

 

 

Bacon and sage mix well with BN Sq flavors. 

[SLB]

Also, in my experience not every butternut squash in the world is all that sweet.  To be sure -- they're all sweeter than summer squash.  But I have found that if I buy them too early in the fall they are comparatively bland.  Or something.  I'm not totally sure if it's a timing thing, actually, that could've been my attempt to make sense of a boring vegetable dish.  

 

But.  I've gotten some that seem like they aren't worth what it took to peel 'em.  Just sayin'.