Roasted Pumpkin Ravioli with Brown Sage Butter and Toasted Pecans

May 30, 2008 by Jacqueline

This is a really lovely dish; I generally serve it with a nice salad dressed with an Italian vinaigrette. If you don’t have pecans, hazelnuts are also very nice with this recipe. The measurements of ingredients can be a bit fluid, taste the filling and season to taste. The sage in the filling is optional as sometimes I prefer the delicacy of the pumpkin filling with no further accompaniment, and sometimes I prefer the tang of the sage to pump things up a bit.

I’ve used a number of pasta dough recipes, some that include olive oil, some that require more eggs, some that require fewer, but I found Jamie Oliver’s recipe to be the most consistent and the tastiest. The pasta dough usually needs about an hour to rest before you can roll it into sheets, so start with the pasta first. If you don’t feel like making your own pasta, I have heard that using pre-made wonton wrappers provides good results, but I haven’t tried that. If you like the pasta dough and the filling can be made a day in advance.

Recipe
(Serves 4)

Pasta
Fresh pasta dough rolled into sheets for ravioli

Filling
500g (1lb) pumpkin (~½ a butternut pumpkin/squash)
3 shallots (or 1 small onion)
½ TBSP olive oil
1 clove garlic crushed
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 TBSP chopped fresh sage (or about ¼ tsp dry sage) (optional)
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
30g (¼ C) bread crumbs
50g (½ C) grated parmesan
50g (3TBSP) part-skim ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 egg lightly beaten for egg wash
salt and pepper to taste
semolina (or corn meal/polenta) for dusting

Sauce
¼ C pecans
50g (¼ C) butter
Handful of fresh sage leaves
Parmesan shavings to serve

Toast the Pecans
Preheat the oven to 175°C/350°F. Spread the pecans onto a baking tray and toast until fragrant approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Allow to cool and chop coarsely. (If using hazelnuts the instructions are the same but you will need to remove the skins after roasting, the easiest way to do this is to place them in an old kitchen towel and rub vigorously.)

Roast the Pumpkin
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Place the pumpkin cut side down in a foil lined pan. Tent another piece of foil over the pumpkin and roast for 30-40 minutes until soft. Allow to cool slightly.

Filling
Heat the olive oil in a small sauté pan. Sauté the shallots until translucent. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant.

Transfer pumpkin to the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. Add shallots, garlic, nutmeg, sage, breadcrumbs, parmesan, ricotta and egg and process until just combined. (This could be done in a blender as well, but I would attempt to mix the ingredients by hand in a bowl first, and then transfer in batches to a blender. If you don’t have a blender, just beat everything together and get it as smooth as possible).

Make the ravioli by having four sheets of pasta prepared and covered to keep moist. Remove one sheet of pasta, place 6 to 8 equal mounds of about 1–1½ TBSP of the pumpkin puree onto the sheet about 5cm/2in apart. Brush around each mound with the egg wash. Cover the mounded dough sheet with a second sheet of pasta and press around the mounds of pumpkin puree to seal the dough. Repeat with the remaining sheets of pasta. Use a 5cm/2in cookie cutter or ravioli press to cut out the ravioli. Dust a tray with semolina and place the ravioli on it while bringing a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the ravioli to the rapidly boiling water and cook 3-5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and tent with foil to keep warm.

Sauce
Melt the butter in a small sauté pan and cook until lightly browned. Tear sage leaves and add to pan, fry for 20-30 seconds. Remove from heat, pour over pasta and sprinkle with nuts and parmesan shavings.

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