This recipe was requested a month or so ago by someone on WS, so I figured I would cross-post it here in case anyone was interested.

This should be served as primi piatti. If it's to be a main course, it would likely only serve 2.

Butternut Squash Ravioli in Saffron Cream
Serves 6

Fresh pasta:

1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup semolina flour
2 large eggs
1 tsp water
pinch salt

Sift flours and salt onto a clean surface. Use your hand to make a well in the center. Break eggs separately into a bowl, then add to well (done to check for bad eggs). Add water to well. Gradually incorporate flour from the inside edge of the well into the egg mixture with a fork. When the dough becomes too stiff to work with the fork, knead flour into egg mixture with both hands until dough is no longer sticky. Continually scrape surface with pastry scraper to get bits of dough that stick to the surface. Form dough into a ball and cover with a damp kitchen towel. Clean your surface, then dust with more flour.

Unwrap dough and knead with the heel of your hand until dough is smooth, about 5 minutes. Cut dough into three or four pieces (all cuts parallel; do not quarter the dough). Flatten dough so it will fit through the rollers of a hand-cranked pasta machine. Set rollers of the pasta machine to the widest settings, then feed pasta through 3 or 4 times, folding and turning pasta until it is smooth and the width of the machine.

Begin rolling pasta through machine, decreasing the settings, one notch at a time (do not fold or turn pasta). Roll pasta through each setting until you reach the third from finest notch (that’s a “7” on mine).

Cut pasta into 12 large squares, about 3” in size. Let dry for at least one hour on a kitchen towel or tablecloth.

Filling:

2 small butternut squash, totaling 2 1/2 pounds, seeds removed, cut into chunks
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 small yellow onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp. red pepper flakes or peperoncino
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
2 tbsp. good quality honey
1 cup dry white wine
1 tsp. salt

For filling, preheat oven to 350F. Bake squash chunks on a lightly oiled baking sheet until tender, 30-45 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside for 10 minutes. When cool enough to handle, remove and discard skin. Transfer squash pulp to a mixing bowl, mash with a fork, then beat in egg yolks and set aside.

Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until soft. Add red pepper flakes/peperoncino, 2 tbsp. of the Parmigiano, honey, wine, and salt, and cook for 3-4 minutes. Mix in squash, cook for 2 minutes more, then transfer to a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Return squash mixture to the same pan, cover, and keep warm over low heat.

Saffron cream:

Shallots, minced finely
Heavy cream
Saffron threads
Unsalted butter
Salt, to taste

Sauté shallots in butter over medium heat until soft, but not brown. Add cream and saffron, stirring constantly to release colour from saffron and not allow the cream to scald. Allow to thicken slightly, season with salt, remove from heat and add a few small pats of cold unsalted butter to thicken further. Put aside and keep warm.

Putting everything together:

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer. Carefully slip pasta squares into pot and cook until they rise to the surface, about 2-3 minutes. Use a large skimmer to remove pasta from the water. Drain well, then lay 1 square on each of 6 plates, spoon squash filling onto squares, flattening it down with the back of a spoon, and cover with remaining pasta squares. Drizzle with saffron cream, and sprinkle with remaining Parmigiano, if desired. Do not over-sauce the dish.

Note: Instead of using a saffron cream, you could do a brown butter with sage sauce.

this sounds like something I will have to try! the mrs. loves squash.

futronic, do you usually use 1/2 and 1/2 all-purpose and semolina flour (all pasta? just ravioli?)? I got my 1st pasta roller for x-mas and am still working on the best flour ratio. also, do you let your dough rest before rolling? thanks...

raybanz

Raybanz,

Yes, I always use a 1/2 and 1/2 mixture of AP and semolina flour. That's how I learned from my Nonna, and there's no point in messing with generations of tradition.

Here are some additional comments I emailed to a friend who asked me similar follow-up questions:

Cut the pasta into the desired shape instead of squares. If cutting noodles, toss in a tiny bit of AP flour to keep it from sticking while drying for an hour. Your wide noodle cutting setting will likely leave two fettucine noodles connected together even though there is a seam, so you'll have to separate them. For some reason that style cutter doesn't work as well with how thin I roll my dough.

Alternatively, you can roll the sheets up into a log and cut it by hand, but make sure you flour the sheet first, otherwise it'll all stick together.

For me, each cup of flour you use makes enough pasta for two people (basically three plates of pasta in total).

Let me know how it turns out. You shouldn't have a problem, but just watch the consistency of the dough when you knead it. That's the most important thing. If the gluten doesn't get broken down and turn out a smooth dough, your pasta's going to suck. Let the dough ball rest for 5 minutes wrapped in a damp towel before cutting and running through the machine.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks futronic. I'm gonna make this soon and I'll let you know how it turns out!

raybanz

Looking forward to hearing the results!

A word of warning, however. Once you start making your own pasta, dried really doesn't cut it anymore, even the artisan stuff.

Thanks very much for sharing, Fut! I am definitely going to try this. It will be my first foray into the hand-made pasta world. I fully expect to be spoiled for life!

My pleasure, LW. The thing is, fresh pasta is really easy to make. Start to finish, maybe a half hour or a little longer. Then you just have to let it dry for an hour (I usually cheat a bit) and that's it.

Quote:

---

Your wide noodle cutting setting will likely leave two fettucine noodles connected together even though there is a seam, so you'll have to separate them. For some reason that style cutter doesn't work as well with how thin I roll my dough.

---

I was told once that after rolling the sheets to desired thickness, you should let the dough "air-dry" for 10 minutes before putting it through the cutter. This is supposed to prevent the strands from sticking, and "grabbing" each other after they go through the cutter. Have you tried this? I haven't made much fresh pasta, so I'm certainly no expert. In fact, I'm barely a beginner. But I'd like to get good at it.

By the time the sheets are rolled out, it's about that length of air time anyway (decant your pasta sheets? ). For me, it's because I like my dough thin. Maybe I just need to sharpen the cutter or something!