Spiced Butternut Squash Ravioli with Brown Butter Sage Sauce

Have you ever asked yourself, “How would it feel to be better than Trader Joe’s?”

They may have still have the cult following, but you will have the better ravioli. And as far as we are concerned, that is all that matters at the end of the day. When squash season is in full swing, and it is time to take advantage of it. With butternuts, spaghetti, and acorn are a plenty, it is time to explore one of our favorite means of preparation, pasta.

Inspiration

Holiday spices and local produce. We always make an effort to buy ingredients from our farmer’s markets, and cook what is in season. So when there is an opportunity to achieve this, and also eat pasta, you do it 100% of the time.

A butternut squash pasta is already incredibly satisfying. It is one of our favorite ways of preparing one of our favorite ingredients. So when there is an opportunity to eat this, and also feel festive, you do it 100% of the time.

Why You’ll Love it

Butternut squash is a perfect vehicle for a holiday-inspired spice blend. It’s naturally sweet and creamy, and with the right touch, these properties from the squash can be used to heighten other flavors. Conversely, the right additions will enhance the natural flavor of the squash.

Pairing this with a classic brown butter sage sauce, the end result is a rich, woodsy, and the perfect amount of salty (thanks to our good ol’ friend parmesean cheese).

It is the perfect meal to celebrate temperatures dropping and the holidays approaching.

Equipment

It is certainly possible to make our spiced butternut squash ravioli using only available kitchen tools. Looking at the components, in theory, nothing is too intimidating.

Pasta dough can be made by hand. The filling is prepared in a mixing bowl. It is placed onto the pasta dough with either a spoon or piping bag (aka plastic bag with a whole cut out). And finally, it can be sealed by hand.

However, we found this process created some ugly ravioli. Maybe it is just our lack of finesse, but a ravioli press made the entire process much easier. First, it ensures that all of your creations are uniform in size and shape. No more food envy because you have portions are equal.

Most importantly, a ravioli press makes the process cleaner as well. No explosions. No ravioli filling shooting out of the edges onto your formerly clean floor.

We would highly recommend the following:

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With that out of the way, onto the recipe!

Spiced Butternut Squash Ravioli with Brown Butter Sage Sauce

Prep time: 75 minutes minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Total time: 45 minutes
Servings: 72 ravioli

Ingredients:

Spiced Butternut Squash Mixture
5 sheets of pasta dough
1 small butternut squash or 2 cups pureed butternut squash
1 lemon, zested
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup creme fraice
1/4 cup grated parmesean
2 tbs honey
Pinch of salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper

Brown Butter Sage Sauce 15 sage leaves
1.5 sticks unsalted butter
1/4 tsp chili flakes
5 garlic cloves, smashed
Grated paremsean and salt to garnish

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425 F. While oven is preheating, cut ends off of butternut squash. Rotate squash and cut lengthwise, splitting into two even halves. Scoop out seeds from squash. Feel free to roast them or save them for another project.

Once squash has been cut into two pieces, place each squash cut-side down on a baking pan lined with aluminum foil. Pour room temperature water into the pan so that it is surrounding the butternut squash. It should be about 1/4" deep across the majority of the pan.

Once oven has come to temperature, place butternut squash in the oven and roast for 40 minutes, or until tender.

Once butternut squash is tender, remove from oven and transfer to a clean cutting board to cool until it is easy to handle.

While the squash is cooling, begin preparing the spice mixture. Combine lemon zest, nutmeg, cinnamon, creme fraiche, grated parmesean, honey, salt, and pepper into a large mixing bowl.

Once butternut squash has cooled, scoop into mixing bowl with spice mixture. Mix together until full incorporated.

Roll dough sheet over the ravioli press. Scoop butternut squash mixture into pocket of ravioli press. Fold dough sheet over the ravioli press and roll with rolling pin to expell ravioli.

Repeat this process until you have made all of your ravioli. Once individual ravioli have been pressed out, set aside on a clean counter and dust with semolina flour.

Begin heat a pot of salted water over medium heat until it comes to a boil. In parallel, begin melting 1.5 sticks of unsalted butter in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Smash garlic cloves on cutting board using a chef's knife, and wash sage leaves

Once butter melts, add sage leaves to the skillet with crushed garlic and red pepper flakes.

Lower to low-medium heat to prevent butter from burning.

Once water is boiling, drop in ravioli in batches to not overcrowd the pot. Cook until ravioli float to the top and scoop into pan with brown butter sage (about 3 minutes).

Toss to coat and garnish with more grated parmesean.

Chef Notes:

Try your best to get your butternut squash from local farmers. The goal is to have small squash (which are naturally sweeter) from the best possible growers. Farmer's market squash tend to be sweeter than those from the grocery store since they are picked much later to the point of sale.

This recipe relies on balance, so be careful to avoid over-spicing the mixture. We are shooting for the spices to hangout in the background of the flavor profile instead of being at the forefront.

If you have extra spiced butternut squash mixture or ravioli, feel free to freeze both. They not only freeze exceptionally well, but it is the perfect rainy day meal. Individual ravioli are best frozen on a sheet tray (to firm up) and then transfered to a freezer-safe bag (this will also prevent them from sticking together).