Brilliant Butternut Squash Ravioli

I've talked about my love of homemade pasta before on this blog (How To Make Pasta, Cheeky Chicken Pappardelle and Pimper Up Pasta Carbonara With Chicken) and I like any excuse to make it so when the opportunity arose for me to hold a dinner party I jumped at the chance to include some form of homemade pasta in the menu!

It was my aunty's birthday recently and, as a sort of gift to her, I offered to cook dinner for her along with 10 other friends and family. The meal had an Italian theme and it began with my Flipping Fantastic Focaccia and starter was this dish. These ravioli are made with wholemeal flour to give the pasta a robustness and earthiness that really compliments the butternut squash. In terms of flavouring, I used fennel seeds and amaretti biscuits to give the filling a truly authentic taste and a sage butter over then top added luxury and brought the whole dish together.

The ravioli can be prepared in advance, making them ideal for dinner parties or occasions with a lot of mouths to feed. They also freeze really well so I like to have a few batches in my freezer for when I need to entertain at short notice. Super tasty, super easy and super impressive, I really recommend you try these out at home!

Brilliant Butternut Squash Ravioli

Serves 6-8, as a starter

450g/1lb piece of butternut squash, peeled

1 tbsp olive oil

large pinch of fennel seeds, lightly crushed

1 medium egg, yolk only

25g/1oz parmesan cheese, grated,

   plus extra to serve

4 amaretti biscuits, crushed 1

5g/1oz fresh white breadcrumbs

salt

freshly ground black pepper

For the fresh egg pasta:

225g/8oz plain wholemeal flour

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp olive oil

2 medium eggs

4 medium egg yolks

For the sage butter:

 75g/3oz unsalted butter

20 small sage leaves

1 tbsp lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.

Cut the piece of butternut squash into wedges and scoop out the seeds. Put into a roasting tin, sprinkle over the oil, fennel seeds and some seasoning and turn over once or twice. Roast for 30 minutes until tender.

Leave until cool enough to handle and then scoop the flesh away from the skin. Put the flesh in a bowl and mash to a smooth purée with a fork. Stir in the egg yolk, parmesan, amaretti biscuits, breadcrumbs and seasoning to taste.

For the pasta dough, put all the pasta ingredients into a food processor and blend until they come together into a ball. Tip the dough on to a work surface and knead for 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Wrap in cling film and leave to rest for 10 - 15 minutes.

Bring a large pan of well-salted water (one teaspoon salt per 600ml/1 pint water) to the boil. To make the ravioli, cut the pasta dough into quarters and, working with one piece at a time, roll out using a pasta machine, lightly dusting the dough with flour between rolls and finishing on setting number seven. Alternatively, roll with a rolling pin until as thin as you can go without breaking the dough (approximately 3mm).

Place the piece of dough on a floured surface and make small indentations with a 2in cookie cutter. Place a teaspoon of the pumpkin filling on half of the marks and then brush lines of water around the edge. Place one of the empty circles on top and, press firmly around each pile of filling with your fingers to push out any trapped air and seal in the filling. Repeat with the remaining three pieces of dough.

If you are not going to eat the ravioli immediately, drop them into the boiling water as you make each batch and cook for just one minute, then lift out with a slotted spoon and drop into a bowl of cold water. Drain and lay out on lightly oiled trays, cover with cling film and chill until needed. Then drop back into boiling salted water just before serving and cook for three minutes. Alternatively cook them all at once for a total of four minutes. Drain well and tip into a large, warmed serving bowl.

For the sage butter, melt the butter in a large frying pan until foaming, throw in the sage and fry for a few seconds. Remove the pan from the heat and add the lemon juice and some salt and pepper to taste. Pour the sage butter over the ravioli, with some grated parmesan cheese if liked. I provided three ravioli per serving for a starter, as they’re quite rich. Serve immediately.

TIP: Substitute the parmesan for pecorino for a vegetarian dish.