Last week the inspiration struck to make homemade pasta. Since I might be a bit of an internet junkie I was looking it up on ebay within a minute. I found a good deal on a set of attachments for my Kitchen Aid and bid on it. Later that night I spoke to my mother and she mentioned she an extra "old fashioned" pasta roller. Since my baking and cooking purchases (not to mention food budget) has been a bit over the top recently, I decided that free was better than a good deal so when I lost I decided to let it go. Only a few days later my "new to me" pasta machine arrived and I couldn't wait to try it out. With some friends planning to join us for dinner and some baking it seemed like a perfect idea for a hands-on dinner.
This wasn't a dinner where you got to sit down and relax while I prepared everything myself. I asked each guest to help me with the making of one row of pasta....it ended up being a lot of fun and some people got a little creative. In the end, we ended up with a bit of a competition for oddest shape but no matter what they looked like every one was delicious. The ravioli was served as a starter / side dish for a pork tenderloin that was marinaded in a lemon thyme marinade and then prepared on the grill pan.
The first step in making these ravioli is preparing the squash which needs to be roasted until it is soft enough to mash. You don't want to boil it because that will make it much too moist and wet which can cause the pasta to fall apart when it is assembled. I was lucky enough to have an amazing sous chef at home that was able to do this step for me while I was still at work!
Next you have to make the pasta dough and let it set for an hour or so until it is ready to be rolled out. From here it was fun time! Each friend had to help roll out a hunk of dough and then fill it with the squash mixture. (Thanks to Jema for being an awesome model!)
The finish raviolis were placed on a cookie sheet that had some cornmeal dusted on it and could be frozen at this point. I cooked them up right away but you can always do this in advance and save them for another day.
Butternut Squash Ravioli
4 c flour
6 eggs
1 tsp salt
2 winter squash - peeled, seeded and cubed (I used a butternut and a red suri from the CSA)
2 tbsp oil
salt & pepper
2 tbsp fresh thyme - finely diced
2 tbsp fresh sage - finely diced
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 egg
1) Take the cubes of squash and toss in oil then add some seasoning, place in 350 F oven for 40- 45 min or until soft - set aside until it cools
2) In a Kitchen Aid mixture, add flour, eggs and salt and mix on 2 until it forms a ball, wrap in plastic and set aside for 1 hour.
3) In a large bowl, combine squash, vanilla, herbs and spices
4) Take ball of dough and using a pastrknife cut it into sixths.
5) Stretch one section into a rectangle and roll it out, add a small bit of flour if necessary
6) On the widest setting, roll the dough through the machine, flour
7) Roll dought through again on a lower setting, repeat until thin enough (I used 3-4 passes going down to 4/5 from 8)
8) Cut strip of dough into rectangle and place about 1/2 tsp of filling in center
9) In a small bowl, combine beaten egg with a small amount of water
10) With a small brush wet the edges of the ravioli place the top on
11) Seal the edges with a fork to crimp closed (or use one of those neat little rollers!)
Sage Brown Butter Cream Sauce
1 stick butter
4 tbsp sage - finely diced
4 tbsp fresh grated parmesean
1/2 c heavy cream
salt & pepper
1) Over med heat, add sage to butter until browned (cook on med for 25-40 min or until butter stops foaming and begins to darken)
2) Take off heat and add cream in a slow stream while whisking
3) Once creamy blend is formed whisk in cheese and seasoning
Lemon Thyme Marinade
2 tbsp oil
juice of 2 lemons
2 tbsp fresh thyme
2 tbsp fresh rosemary
salt & pepper
