Qorkz Kitchen
/Butternut Squash Ravioli In a Sage Brown Butter Sauce
Welcome to Qorkz Kitchen! This week we are doing one of our favorite Fall meals of all time, butternut squash ravioli in a sage brown butter sauce. It's hard not to be excited about this dish as the squash starts popping up at our local farmers market and the weather starts to turn brisk. It's always a crowd-pleaser, and we're excited to share it with you!
This dish has 6 unique cooking elements and we will go through them in order. Make compound sage butter, toast the spice mixture, make the pasta dough, make the filling, assemble the ravioli, and finally, cook the dish.
Sage Butter Ingredients
1 Quart Heavy Cream
1 Bunch Sage Leaves
1 Tablespoon Salt
Combine the salt and cream in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Place the protective cover on the bowl and turn the power to medium-high. Let the cream work itself to stiff peaks like you're making whipped cream, this is the halfway point. Let the cream keep churning until the fats combine to form butter and you have liquid buttermilk in the bottom of your work bowl.
While your butter is churning, take out your sage leaves, remove the stems, and chop into a fine dice.
To make the compound butter, remove the buttermilk from the work bowl and discard or save for another use. Return the butter to the work bowl and add the sage. Using the whisk attachment, turn the power to high and cream the butter for two minutes. Once the butter is creamed, remove it from the work bowl and store for later use.
Spice Mixture Ingredients
1 Tablespoon Black Peppercorns
1/2 Tablespoon Red Chili Flakes
3 Tablespoons Fennel Seeds
1 Tablespoon Coriander Seeds
2 Cinnamon Sticks
3 Tablespoons Chili Powder
2 Tablespoons Kosher Salt
Combine the fennel seeds, black peppercorns, coriander, red chili flakes, and cinnamon sticks in a dry frying pan set over medium-low heat. Stir the spices frequently until they start to be come fragrant, usually about 5 minutes. Spices burn very easily so be sure to give this process your undivided attention.
Remove the spices from the pan once toasted and grind them in your spice grinder. We use a basic coffee grinder as our spice grinder, but the hand crank ones will work as well. Mix your newly ground spices with the chili powder and salt to combine. Set aside for later use.
Pasta Dough Ingredients
115 Grams Semolina Flour
225 Grams Durum Flour
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Water
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Fine Ground Black Pepper
3 Eggs
Flour measurements are by weight. We like this kitchen scale for our measurements because of its weight zeroing function allowing us to weigh everything in one bowl.
Mix the semolina, durum, salt, and pepper in the bowl of a stand mixer to incorporate them together. Then slowly add one egg at a time, then the oil, and let the dough start to come together. Depending on the humidity in the kitchen you're working in, the dough may be finished at this point or still may need some water to help smooth it out. Add the water one tablespoon at a time until the dough forms a ball and comes away cleanly from the sides of the mixing bowl.
Once the dough releases cleanly from the sides of the work bowl, form it into a ball and wrap it in saran wrap. Leave the dough to sit for 30 minutes to an hour to allow for the flour to fully hydrate.
Butternut Squash Filling
1 Large Butternut Squash
1/2 Cup Compound Sage Butter
3 Tablespoons Spice Mixture
1/4 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 Cup Molasses
Take your butternut squash and peel the outer skin. I always struggle to do this with a peeler, so I use a large pairing knife. Remove the top and bottom pieces, and scoop out the seeds in the middle. Cut the entire squash into 1 inch cubes for cooking.
Next, place the compound butter in a frying pan set to medium-high. Once the butter stops bubbling and starts to brown, remove the pan from the heat and add the spice mixture, balsamic vinegar, and molasses. This will splatter some so be sure to be very careful during this process. Stir the mixture together to combine and put the pan back on the burner and cook for another minutes stirring constantly.
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil then add the diced butternut squash to the pan. Pour the spiced butter liquid over the top of the butternut squash and stir to combine.
In an oven pre-heated to 400 degrees F., roast the butternut squash for 45 minutes to an hour or until you can stick a fork in them without resistance. Stir the mixture once during the cooking process. Once cooked, remove the squash from the pan and place into the work bowl of a food processor and pulse until the mixture is smooth. If you do not have a food processor, a potato masher will work as well.
Form The Pasta Sheets
Sprinkle some semolina flour on your work station. Unwrap your dough ball. Placing it in the center of the flour, cut the ball into quarters. Working with one quarter at a time, use a rolling pin to roll the dough out flat. Take the ends and fold them back into the middle to eliminate the oblong end pieces. Then roll the pasta out again with the rolling pin. Using a pasta roller or pasta rolling attachment to your Kitchen Aid, roll the pasta out into long sheets. You can also do this part by hand with your rolling pin if you don't have a pasta roller.
These sheets will become the bottom layer of your Ravioli.
Decorative Leaf Pasta Sheets
To make the decorative pasta squares, make a sheet of pasta as described above. Then lay out sage leaves evenly spaced across the pasta sheet. Cover the leaves with a second sheet of pasta and trim away the excess. Roll the pasta sheets out again as described above.
Fill The Ravioli
Lay out one of the bottom pasta sheets. Using a scoop or a spoon, place a 1 oz portion of the filling evenly spaced across the sheet.
Next create an egg wash by whisking together one egg with a tablespoon of water. Cut the sage pasta tops into squares large enough to cover the filling. Using a pastry brush, paint the area around the filling with an egg wash. Then place the tops over fillings pressing down gently to combine the layers. Be sure to push the air out during this step so you have tightly packed ravioli. Then fold the edges up to seal the ravioli.
Using a pizza cutter, slice the ravioli sheets to cut away each individual ravioli. Then using either the side of a fork or a rolling crimping cutter, cut the edges of the ravioli to trim away the excess pasta and crimp them closed.
Cook The Ravioli
Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Using a slotted spoon, gently lower the ravioli into the boiling water one by one. Boil them for about 3-4 minutes. They should be floating when they are finished.
Melt the remaining half cup of compound butter in a frying pan over medium-high heat. When the butter stops foaming and is browned, add the cooked ravioli and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Be careful, the ravioli will splatter when you add it to the butter.
Finish The Dish
To serve, plate the ravioli on a plate and add a few decorative sage leaves and enjoy!
Wine Pairing
“This Pinot Noir has big red fruit but also has a earthy quality to it that blends nicely with the sage and squash. I might not usually go Pinot Noir with this meal, but the combination of these two is outstanding.”
$55
Exclusively available for residents of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming or those with a California based wine locker.
“Syrah brings out the fall spices in the squash and is my choice for this pairing. The smokey nose and deep fruit flavors when combined with the buttery pasta and spiced squash make for an ideal pairing. Yay Fall! ”
$45
Exclusively available for residents of Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Texas, Washington DC of those with a California based wine locker.