Rich And Cheesy Pumpkin Ravioli With Almonds Recipe

When fresh pumpkins are abundant in stores, markets, and farm stands in the fall, treating ourselves to some of our favorite homemade pumpkin recipes we may only enjoy once a year is in order. Staples like pumpkin soup and pumpkin pie are popular for a reason, but if you've never tried pumpkin in ravioli, you're in for a treat.

Recipe developer Michelle Bottalico has created a recipe for pumpkin ravioli inspired by an autumnal Italian pumpkin ravioli classic. "In Italy, I've enjoyed pumpkin ravioli made with amaretti cookies in the filling. These very sweet treats, full of almond flavor and light and crispy from the included meringue, are crumbled into mashed pumpkin and grated cheese. I've used raw almonds to keep the nutty flavor without the added sugar, and I've added ricotta to make it cheesier," Bottalico said.

Roasting a pumpkin and making a homemade egg pasta dough are the first of quite a few steps, but we think they're worth it. If you don't have a pasta machine or ravioli tools, no problem — you'll only need a rolling pin and cookie cutter for this method. After that, the recipe comes together quickly, and a butter sage sauce dresses the ravioli to rich, herby perfection. If you love these pumpkin ravioli as much as we do, you don't have to limit yourself to making them in the autumn months. Other winter squash varieties that are found in stores year-round, like butternut squash, can be substituted with the same delicious results.

For the ravioli filling, you will need a small sugar pumpkin, whole raw almonds, grated pecorino, ricotta, nutmeg, and salt. You won't use all of the pumpkin for this recipe, so you can choose to reserve the leftover baked pumpkin for another use or only bake half of the pumpkin to use here. For the pasta dough, you will need 00 flour, salt, and large eggs. Make sure you have butter and sage leaves to make the sauce. Finally, cornmeal is an optional ingredient you can use to keep moister ravioli from sticking.

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Cut the pumpkin in half and remove the seeds and fibers with a spoon. Save the seeds to clean and roast if desired.

Place the pumpkin halves on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 30-35 minutes until tender.

Remove the pumpkin from the oven and let it cool.

Meanwhile, make the pasta dough. Place the flour and salt in a large bowl and mix with a fork.

Add the eggs and mix them into the flour with a fork until the dough starts to firm up.

Continue mixing with your hands, pressing it until the dough holds together in a rough ball.

Knead the dough on a floured surface for 10-15 minutes. Add a very small amount of flour if it's sticky or water if it's dry and crumbly.

Stop when the dough ball is smooth and elastic and springs back when pressed with a finger.

Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap or a damp towel and let it sit out to rest for at least 30 minutes.

Start making the filling by scooping the flesh out of the pumpkin with a spoon and measuring out 1 cup.

Place the pumpkin flesh in a large bowl and fork mash it.

Place the almonds in a food processor and pulse until broken up into large crumbly pieces. Do not grind them fine like almond flour.

Transfer the almonds to the bowl with the pumpkin, add the pecorino, ricotta, nutmeg, and salt, and mix well. Set aside.

Cut the dough in half and roll out one of the pieces on a lightly-floured work surface until it's very thin, just less than 1 millimeter high. Keep the other half wrapped in plastic until you're ready to use it.

Cut out circle shapes from the dough with a round 3 to 3 ½-inch cookie cutter. Wrap the scraps until ready to use.

Spoon a little filling into the center of each dough circle. Don't add so much that it will squeeze out of the ravioli when they're folded and sealed.

Fold each dough circle in half, being careful to press the air out as you close them, and seal the edges with a fork.

Place the ravioli in a single layer on a kitchen towel, baking sheet, or board away from your work area. Sprinkle the surface with optional cornmeal if your dough feels like it might stick.

Repeat the rolling, cutting, and filling steps with the other piece of dough. Make a ball with the scraps and roll them out to make additional ravioli.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

In the meantime, make the sauce by melting the butter in a skillet on medium-low.

Add the sage leaves and cook them for 1-2 minutes until crispy. Remove the pan from the heat.

Gently place the ravioli in the boiling water and let them cook for 3-5 minutes until they float to the surface. Do this in batches if you don't have a very large pot to avoid overcrowding.

Carefully remove the ravioli with a slotted spoon and arrange them in layers in a serving dish, coating each layer with some of the butter sage sauce.

Serve immediately with grated cheese.

Avoid common pasta dough mistakes to help you achieve better results. First, weighing your eggs and flour will always be more accurate. A basic egg pasta dough uses 100 grams of flour per 55-57 grams of cracked egg, which is about 1 large egg in the US. This recipe uses 3 large eggs and 300 grams, or 10.5 ounces, of flour. Consider using a scale because egg size varies and the weight of a cup of flour can vary greatly depending on how it's measured.

When mixing the dough, watch to see if it's too dry or wet. If it crumbles and doesn't form a ball when kneading, it's probably too dry. Wet your hands and keep kneading. Avoid pouring water on it or it's easy to add too much. On the other hand, if the dough sticks to your hands when kneading, it's too wet. Add a tablespoon of flour and keep kneading. Be conservative; wait and see if either method fixes the problem before adding more water or flour. Knead the dough for the full number of minutes. Kneading helps gluten bonds to form so the dough will be elastic enough to roll out later. Resting the dough is equally important because it allows the gluten bonds to relax so it won't shrink back when you roll it out. It also allows the dough to get moister. Thirty minutes is a good rule of thumb.

Once a year, Halloween pumpkins, smaller orange sugar pumpkins, and assorted gourds fill supermarket and farm stand displays. It's a great time to make seasonal dishes like pumpkin pie, roasted pumpkin, pumpkin soup, and of course this pumpkin ravioli recipe. If you're wondering which types of pumpkin are best for cooking, you're not alone. Our recommendation is to use a sugar pumpkin, which looks like a small version of the large Halloween pumpkin commonly used to make jack-o'-lanterns. Unlike the large carving pumpkins, which have stringier wetter flesh, sugar pumpkins have dense, smooth flesh. They also have a sweeter flavor, which gives them their name. They may be marked simply as pie pumpkins in the store. If you can find them, other varieties of small, sweet pumpkins with fanciful names such as Baby Bear, Early Abundance, Cinderella, and Dickinson pumpkins are excellent choices.

Pumpkins are a type of winter squash, and while they aren't available year-round in stores, the good news is many other types of winter squash are, and they can taste and behave similar to pumpkin. Butternut squash is a convenient alternative easily found in stores. It's inexpensive and has similar characteristics to pumpkin. Acorn squash is another good choice that is commonly available. Although it's more expensive, a Kabocha squash, otherwise known as a Japanese green pumpkin, will work well. Avoid stringy, watery varieties like spaghetti squash.