Pumpkin Ravioli with Pumpkin Seed Sauce
Submitted by smiles
Handmade pumpkin ravioli filled with ricotta and pumpkin, served in a creamy pumpkin seed sauce with green chiles. A from-scratch fall pasta project.
YIELD
4 servingsPREP
15 minCOOK
45 minREADY
60 minPumpkin inside and out. These handmade ravioli are filled with a ricotta-pumpkin-nutmeg mixture, wrapped in a tomato-tinted pasta dough, and served with a creamy pumpkin seed sauce spiked with green chiles. It’s a project, but the payoff is a dish you absolutely cannot buy anywhere.
The pasta dough gets its faint orange tinge from a touch of tomato paste mixed with eggs and oil. It’s subtle, but it signals “pumpkin” before you even take a bite. Kneading until smooth and elastic, then resting the dough for 5 minutes, relaxes the gluten enough that rolling it thin doesn’t fight you.
The pumpkin seed sauce is a variation on Mexican pipian. Pepitas, onion, bread, and garlic get toasted in oil until golden, then blended smooth with chicken broth, cream, and green chiles. The bread thickens the sauce naturally without any flour roux.
Kitchen Tips
- Let the ravioli dry on a towel for 30 minutes before boiling, flipping once. This firms up the edges so they don’t burst open in the water.
- Press the dough firmly around each mound of filling to push out air pockets. Trapped air makes ravioli float and cook unevenly.
- Cook in gently boiling (not rolling) salted water. Aggressive bubbles can tear fresh pasta.
- The filling should be thick, not wet. If your pumpkin puree is watery, drain it through cheesecloth first.
Variations
- Add a pinch of sage to the filling for a classic Italian pumpkin ravioli flavor.
- Brown butter with toasted pepitas makes a simpler alternative sauce if you’re short on time.
- Use butternut squash puree instead of pumpkin for a sweeter, silkier filling.
Ingredients
Directions
Mix cheese, pumpkin, ½ teaspoon salt and the nutmeg; reserve.
Mix flour and ½ teaspoon salt in large bowl; make well in centre.
Beat tomato paste, oil and eggs until well blended; pour into well.
Stir with fork, gradually bringing flour mixture into centre, until dough forms a ball.
If dough is too dry, mix in up to 2 tablespoon water.
Knead on lightly floured cloth-covered surface, adding flour if dough is sticky, until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
Cover, let rest 5 minutes.
Divide dough into 4 equal parts.
Roll dough, one part at a time, into rectangle, about 12 x 10 inches(keep remaining dough covered).
Drop pumpkin mixture by 2 level teaspoonfuls onto half of the rectangle about 1½ inches apart in 2 rows of 4 mounds each.
Moisten edges of dough and dough between rows of pumpkin mixture with water.
Fold other half of dough up over pumpkin mixture, pressing dough down and around mixture.
Trim edges with pastry wheel or knife. Cut between rows of filling to make ravioli; press edges with fork to seal.
Repeat with remaining dough and pumpkin mixture.
Place ravioli on towel; let stand, turning once, until dry, about 30 minutes.
Prepare Pumpkin Seed Sauce.
Heat until hot; keep warm.
Cook ravioli in 4 quarts boiling salted water (2 teaspoon salt) until tender, 10 to 15 minutes, drain carefully.
Serve ravioli with sauce.
Pumpkin Seed Sauce To serve with Pumpkin Ravioli Cook pumpkin seeds, onion, bread and garlic in oil, stirring frequently, until bread is golden brown.
Stir in chiles.
Place mixture in food processor workbowl fitted with steel blade; cover and process until smooth.
Stir in broth, whipping cream and salt.
Serve with Pumkin Ravioli.
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