Roasted Butternut Squash with a Sage Brown Butter Sauce

It was grains/pasta lab in food preparation class and I was extremely excited. There's nothing more I love than pasta. Pasta is so versatile, you can cook them any method you like, use your favorite filling, sauce, eat them as an appetizer, entree, or dessert. My classmate and I made fresh pasta and we decided to make ravioli with it since everyone else was making string pasta. At first we decided to stuff them with spinach and feta filling but it was still frozen. So we saw sun dried tomatoes and took matters in our hands and made sun dried pesto. In a food processor, we combined sun dried tomatoes, pine nuts, parsley, garlic, and Parmesan cheese. Instead of cooking it in boiling water, we decided to pan fry with fresh herb compound butter and olive oil. For a sauce we mixed the pesto, olive oil, and butter in a sauce and let the ingredients marry with each other.  We drizzled the sauce on top of the raviolis. It was incredibly delicious and it was a hit with the class. I'll have to recreate the recipe and post the recipe up soon. When I got home, I was still thinking about the raviolis and how easy it was to make. So I wanted to cook my all time favorite ravioli which is a butternut squash with a sage butter sauce. I always order it when I see it on the menu as an appetizer or an entree. The only challenge I came across with was not having a pasta press, I envy those that have. Lets just say that I had a great workout rolling the dough as thin as it could possibly get it without ugh with



Ingredients: 

Dough

1 cup of all purpose flour

1 egg

1 tbs of olive oil

pinch of salt





Filling

1-2 lbs of butternut squash -1 cup of butternut squash puree

1/2 cup of mascarpone cheese

pinch of nutmeg

pinch of salt

1 tbs of butter

1 tsp of chopped sage

1 tsp of brown sugar



Sauce

10-12 sage leaves

chopped walnuts (optional)

5 tbs of unsalted butter

1 tbs of brown sugar

pinch of salt



Directions: 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees, cut butternut squash in half, spray non-stick on cookie sheet, place squash flesh down, and cook until tender approximately 25 - 30 minutes. Let it cool. With a fork or spoon, scrape the flesh and place in a bowl.



For the dough, place dough on a smooth surface, shape the flour into a well then place egg, olive oil, and salt. With a fork, slowly stir the flour until it forms a dough, add water if the dough is dry. Kneed the dough for 10 minutes until smooth. Wrap in plastic and let it rest for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.



In a skillet, melt 1 tbs of butter, add minced sage, and cook until crisp. In a bowl,  add mixture to 1 cup of butternut puree, 1/2 cup of mascarpone puree, pinch of nutmeg, and pinch of salt.



Roll the dough in a pasta press or rolling pin approximately 1/4 inch thick. Cut the dough into 2 sheets. Brush with water, place 1 tbs of filling on the dough, leaving 2 inches space apart, make 24 filling/mounds. Place the second sheet and gently cover the mounds, press gently to seal the filling.



Using a cookie cutter or ravioli cutter, cut the raviolis. If using a cookie cutter, gently press sides with a fork.



In a boiling pot, season water with salt, and place the raviolis, cook until al dente



Directions for the Sauce

Melt 6 tbs of butter in a sace pan, cook until it forms a brownish color. Add 10 - 12 sage leaves, and cook until crisp. Add brown sugar.

Sprinkle with chopped walnuts(optional)



Place ravioli in a platter, and spoon sauce on top, sprinkle more chopped walnuts and/or brown sugar if desired.