As a part of an ill-fated date evening final yr, I had instructed to my girlfriend Meghan that we make pumpkin ravioli. How cute, proper? The evening was hell.
First, we made dough on the eating room desk, the place items of the stuff nonetheless reside within the cracks of wooden. I painstakingly lower up a pumpkin, roasted it within the oven, after which skinned the cubes. Meghan kneaded the dough, we each helped it by a pasta maker, after which arrange an meeting line. I lower the person ravioli squares and stuffed them whereas she then sealed the pasta pockets. Throughout this course of, we stacked the ravioli on a plate.
When it got here time to cook dinner the pasta, the ravioli had fused collectively in a mass. Defeated, we cooked the few ravioli unattached to the glob and ate a pained dinner.
The pasta maker stayed hidden within the cupboard till a current journey to Atlantic Metropolis, the place Meghan and I took a category hosted by Stephen Kalt, the chef of the Borgata’s Fornelletto restaurant.
All it takes to make nice dough, Kalt mentioned, it’s a easy recipe. Canned pumpkin is simply nearly as good as actual pumpkin—with out all of the tedious work, he mentioned. Neglect making squares out of pasta sheets and take a look at the pipe-and-pinch technique as an alternative. And although you continue to want a pasta maker, heck, you may roll it out with a rolling pin in case you actually needed.
Kalt’s technique was really easy, Meghan and I made the dish we swore we’d by no means make once more. After which we made it once more. And when spring comes, we could swap out the pumpkin puree for recent peas and morel mushrooms. And in summer time…
Holy ravioli
Recipe by Stephen Kalt, chef of Fornelletto on the Borgata in Atlantic Metropolis, NJ
What you’ll want:
½ cup canned pumpkin
¼ cup ricotta
3 Tbsp freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
Salt and pepper, to style
1 ½ cups “OO” flour
½ cup semolina flour
½ cup egg yolks (about 8)
¼ cup entire milk
2 Tbsp butter
1 sprig sage
1 Amaretti cookie, crumbled
Easy methods to make it:
1. Make the ravioli filling. In a medium bowl, combine collectively the pumpkin, ricotta, and Parmigiano Regianno. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon the filling right into a piping bag or zip-top plastic bag. Twist the bag to push the filling to at least one nook. Refrigerate till prepared to make use of.
2. Make the dough. In a stand mixer with a dough hook, mix the OO and semolina flour. Add the yolks and proceed mixing till integrated. Slowly add the milk till the dough is mushy. (For those who don’t have a stand mixer, you may observe the identical steps, utilizing your arms to work the dough.)
3. Use a pasta maker to roll out the dough, working one setting at a time, till the dough is about 1/sixteenth of an inch thick.
4. Snip the top off of the filling bag.
Working alongside the sting of the pasta sheet, squeeze the filling in an excellent line.
Then fold the underside fringe of the pasta sheet up and over the filling, urgent the sting into the pasta sheet to seal.
Once more working alongside the size of the sheet, pinch the pasta each inch or so to create the ravioli.
Lastly, utilizing a pasta cutter, lower the place you pinched.
Place the ravioli on a floured baking sheet.
5. Switch the pasta to a big pot of boiling salted water and cook dinner till al dente, 3 to five minutes.
6. Because the pasta boils, soften the butter in a small saucepan over medium-high warmth, stirring often, till browned, 3 to five minutes.
7. Drain the pasta, switch it to a plate, and high with the browned butter, sage, and crumbled cookies. Makes 4 to six servings.
