With Fork & Knife

Anyone else glad Thanksgiving is over?

Whew!

It’s quite possibly my favorite holiday in the year – certainly in the top three at least. Great food, great company, lots and lots of booze… But I do have a tendency to bite off a bit more than I can chew each year. Cooking for a crowd in a tiny Brooklyn apartment is an extra special challenge.

This year, though, I discovered a secret that will make everyone love you no matter what may go wrong in the process of getting food to the table: Pumpkin Pie Jello Shots . Seriously. Your Thanksgiving will never be the same. 

Moving along…

It may not feel much like winter right now in my little corner of the world, but the winter squash abounds. With a huge butternut squash sitting on my counter and temps in the mid 70s, a light squash ravioli seemed like the obvious choice for dinner. Because ravioli is the answer to everything.

Butternut Squash & Leek Ravioli

(Serves 2-4)

Ingredients:
 ½ large butternut squash (I roasted the whole thing and saved the other half for later)
Canola or Vegetable Oil
Salt & Pepper
Cinnamon
Paprika
¼ cup melted butter + extra 2 tablespoons unmelted
1 cup chopped Leeks (white and light green parts)
1 1/3 cup AP Flour
1 1/3 cup Semolina Flour
5 large Eggs
1 cup Ricotta
1 teaspoon dried Oregano

To finish:
4 tablespoons Butter
¼ cup Onion, diced
1 tablespoon fresh Sage leaves, chopped
¼ cup Walnuts, chopped

Instructions:
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- (Carefully!) Cut the squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and the soft insides (reserve the seeds for roasting).
- Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper (or foil) and drizzle a bit of oil over the surface.
- Season the cut side of the squash generously with salt, pepper, paprika, and cinnamon. Drizzle the ¼ cup melted butter evenly over the top.

- Bake the squash in the oven for 25-30 minutes, until a fork slides easily into the side of the squash (through the skin) – continue baking longer if necessary.
- Remove the squash from the oven and let cool.
- Once the squash is cool enough to touch, cut away the skin and stem and chop the squash into roughly one inch cubes.
- In a large pan, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Add the chopped leeks and squash and a pinch of salt and sauté (stirring gently) until the leeks have softened – about 5-7 minutes.

- Remove the leek/squash mixture from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

- While the squash mixture cools, prepare your pasta dough. Combine the AP flour and semolina flour in a mound on a flat surface and create a well in the middle.
- Crack 4 of the eggs into the well (optional: you can add a dash of good olive oil to the eggs as well).

- Working gently, beat the eggs together in the well with a fork, gently incorporating some of the flour as you go. Eventually, as more and more of the flour is worked in, you’ll get a doughy texture. Once it’s doughy, you can use your hands to knead in the rest of the flour.

- When the dough has been worked into a smooth ball, wrap in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to rest for 15 minutes.
- While the dough is resting, add the ricotta and oregano to the squash & leek mixture. Using a fork, stir everything together until you have a thick paste (the squash should break apart fairly easily while you mix it together). Season with salt & pepper to taste.

- Using rolling pin or a pasta roller, roll out the pasta dough into thin sheets (about 1/8 of an inch thick or less). It’s easiest to do this in small batches and make about 2-4 ravioli at a time.
- Beat the remaining egg with a bit of water to make an egg wash.
- Drop about a tablespoon of filling on one side of the pasta sheet with even spacing between fillings.
- Using your finger tip or a small brush, coat the pasta around each tablespoon of filling with egg wash.  

- Cut the pasta sheet down the middle and place the “top” sheet on top of the filling. Cut around each lump of filling to get roughly even squares.

- Working from the center out, gently press any air out of the ravioli. Trim the edges to create even shapes and seal with a ravioli cutter, cookie cutter, or with the tines of a fork. Repeat until you’ve used all the filling.

NOTE: At this point, you can either cook the ravioli immediately or set in the fridge for storage. If storing, lightly dust each ravioli with semolina or corn meal and place them gently in single layers separated by layers of parchment paper.

To finish:
- Heat a large pot of salted water to boiling and gently drop the ravioli in the pot. You don’t want them to be too crowded – you may have to work in batches.
- The ravioli will cook very quickly – they’re done when they float to the top of the pot. Drain gently and rinse with warm water.

- While the ravioli are cooking, heat 2 tablespoons of the butter to melting over medium heat in a large pan.
- Add the diced onion and cook until the onion has softened, about 5-8 minutes.

- Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter to the pan with the sage and cook, stirring gently for another 2-4 minutes until the butter has melted and the sage is fragrant.

- Add the walnuts to the pan and remove from heat. Stir to incorporate.

- Gently add your ravioli to the pan and toss to coat them in the sauce. Serve warm.