Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Roasted Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onion Ravioli with sage brown-butter (from scratch)


Ingredients:

Pasta Dough:
4 Cups AP Flour
4 ea. Large Eggs + 1 extra egg yolk
½ Tsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
½ Tsp. Water (if needed)

Filling:
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 ea. Butternut squash, halved and seeded
2 ea. yellow onions, small dice
2 oz. amaretto cookie crumbs, fine
½ cup Parmigiano reggiano, finely grated
4 sprigs, fresh rosemary
Kosher Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to Taste

Sage Brown-Butter Sauce
1 stick unsalted butter, cubed
3 oz. Fresh sage leaves
¼ finely grated Parmigiano reggiano
Kosher Salt, to Taste

Egg Wash:
2 eggs, beaten

Methods:

Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onion Filling:

1.    Brush insides of butternut squash halves with 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil.
2.   Season the insides of butternut squash halves liberally with kosher salt and sparingly with freshly ground black pepper. Place a sprig of rosemary on each butternut squash half.
3.   Place all halves on an oven sheet tray, flesh side up, and roast in a 375 Degree oven for 35-45 min, or until tender. Allow squash to cool and scoop out flesh.
4.   While squash is roasting, heat canola oil in a hot pan. add diced onions into the hot pan. Season with salt, and cook the onions until they are dark brown and caramelized.
5.   In a large bowl, combine scooped butternut squash, grated Parmigiano reggiano, caramelized onions, and amaretto cookie crumbs. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Mix well.


Pasta Dough:

1.    Place Eggs, flour, and extra virgin olive oil into an electric mixing bowl and turn on low speed for 1 minute.
2.   Increase to medium speed and add water, if necessary, in order to allow flour and eggs to combine and form pasta dough. Continue to mix dough for an additional 4 min until pasta dough becomes somewhat elastic.
3.   Round the dough with your hands and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rest for 35 min. at room temperature.


Sage Brown-Butter Sauce:

1.    Add butter and sage to a small sauce pan.
2.   Turn heat to medium-low and allow butter to cook until lightly brown specks form at the bottom of the pan and the butter develops a strong nutty aroma.
3.   Immediately take off the heat as to prevent butter from burning. Discard sage.

Assembly:

1.    On a floured surface, roll the pasta dough out as thinly as possible (preferably with a pasta rolling machine).
2.   Cut the pasta sheet into two equal-sized pieces and brush one of the pieces fully with egg-wash.
3.   Using a tablespoon, scoop out equal amounts of filling onto the pasta sheet that has been brushed with egg-wash. Space filling-mounds roughly 2 inches apart from each other and fully cover this sheet with the second pasta sheet.
4.   Use your fingers to press the second pasta sheet over the egg-washed one to release any air bubble around the filling and to seal the sheets together.
5.   Cut into ravioli using a ravioli cutter and transfer to a floured sheet tray.
6.   Cook Ravioli’s in salted boiling water for about 4 minutes, and with a slotted spoon transfer them to the pan with the brown butter sauce on med-low heat just to reheat the sauce.
7.    Serve with flaky slices of Parmigiano reggiano and enjoy!


Tools for Recipe:
Alfi Sveico Cheese Slicer  (for garnishing with cheese)

All-Clad 3 Quart Colander (to drain ravioli)