Butternut Squash 'Something'

Here I am, sitting at my kitchen table, looking at my 'coming soon board'. When I have ingredients that I need to use up or if I have a craving to make something in particular, I jot it down on this board. If I don't, I forget.  I'm cursed with the memory of a goldfish. Right now the board says 'butternut squash something'. I had bought a particularly nice looking butternut squash at the Los Gatos farmers market last weekend when the sun finally graced us with its presence.... for all of maybe 24 hours. First thing I did when I got back home... wrote 'butternut squash something' up on the board. If I hadn't, that pretty squash would have become a pretty decoration on my kitchen counter for far too long.

After searching through three and a half cookbooks for inspiration on what to do about the 'something', I had nothing. Then I saw my favorite Italian cookbook sitting there on the shelf, looking neglected. Before I even opened it, my little light bulb of inspiration turned on in my head. Ravioli! I had not made ravioli in ages and it felt like the perfect day to make it. I was feeling particularly creative at that moment so I decided to create something on my own. No cookbooks. I just followed my foodie instincts into the fridge and got to work. The dish came together perfectly as the wheels were turning in my head. Here is what it sounded like in my there:

mmm RAVIOLIII! oh YUM! YA RAVIOLI. PERFECT!!
  
mmm SWISS CHARD! ya chard! chard with ricotta! yummm! 
Gosh there's so much freakin Parm in here! I'll add Parmesan too!! 
  
hmm...this thyme needs a serious trim. ok, stop! ravioli's are done. move on!
OH OH rosemary!
NO you crazed foodie! NO MORE.

 
ok, I know I want to puree the squash, but I'll need to add some garlic. ROASTED GARLIC. oh yeaaah. roasted garlic!!! And I'll use the rosemary if I remember it.

Then my chaotic stream of thought came to a halt.  In my head there were nothing but delicious ideas. As if those little keebler elves were working at the speed of my thoughts and created the meal for my brain to approve before relaying the message to me that this would be perfect.

This is a great dish when you want to make something ahead, AND it's impressive. I roasted the garlic and made the ravioli filling in the afternoon and the butternut squash sauce about an hour before dinner time. I was having a friend over who I had lived with in Italy, so I thought it would be nice to make the ravioli together over a glass of vino and reminisce about our times abroad. 

This dish is really simple to make. It may seem like a lot of steps, but take it slow and get it done all ahead of time and when it comes time to putting it all together, it will be stress free. Nothing is worse than stressing over dinner... it leaves a terrible aftertaste. 

Ravioli with Butternut Squash and Roasted Garlic Sauce

For the Ravioli:
    1 ½ lbs. swiss chard, leaves cut off from the stems
    1 c. whole milk Ricotta cheese
    ½ c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
    1 tsp. fresh thyme, chopped
    1 egg
    Salt and Pepper to taste
    Wonton wrappers

Fill a large pot with about ¼ c. of water, and bring to a boil, this will happen fairly quick since the water just barely covers the surface of the pot. Once it is at a boil add the stemmed swiss chard. Cover the pot and let steam for a couple minutes, until it is bright green. Let it drain until it is cool enough to handle. In the mean time, in a medium bowl, mix together the Ricotta, Parmesan, thyme and a pinch of salt and pepper. Once the chard has cooled, squeeze out at much of the water as you can and chop really fine. Once chopped, place all of it onto a dish towel and wring out the water again. The drier the swiss chard the better. Add this to the ricotta cheese mixture and combine well, taste for more salt or pepper, then add the egg and combine well.

To assemble the ravioli:
Take one wonton wrapper and place about 1 Tbls. of the filling in the center. Dip your finger in some water and wet the edges, then place another wonton wrapper on top. seal the edges tight with a fork or by pinching the edges. If the filling is coming out the edges, use less filling.

Butternut Squash Sauce
      
Butternut Squash Puree
     
     1 Butternut squash, peeled (watch lasts posts video).

Cut the squash into 1” pieces.  Put on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and a large pinch of salt. Roast in the oven at 375 for about 30 mintues, or until very tender and starting to brown around the edges. Let them cool for a bit, then I used a food mill to make a puree. You could use a food processor too.

Roasted Garlic

     1 head of garlic 

Peel the papery skin off the outside of the garlic. You want to keep the head of garlic in tact so don’t go to crazy with this. Just remove as much as you can without getting obsessive about it. Cut the top off the garlic to expose the tops of all the cloves within the head. In a small baking dish drizzle some olive oil on the bottom of the dish. Add the head of garlic and drizzle the garlic with more olive oil. Cover with tin foil and pop in a 375 oven for about 40 minutes.

Sauce
    ½ an onion diced fine.
    2 sprigs of rosemary

    6 cloves or 1 Tbls. roasted garlic, mashed
    2 c. Butternut Squash puree
    1-1 1/2 c. water

Saute the onion and 2 sprigs of rosemary in about 2 Tbls. of olive oil until the onions are translucent and just starting to brown up.  Remove the rosemary. Add the roasted garlic and stir around to combine. Add the squash puree and mix them all together. Add 1 cup of water and mix till combined. Add more water until the sauce is the consistency that you like. Add salt and pepper.

Boil the ravioli in a large pot of water until they float to the top, just a a couple of minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the ravioli and serve on individual plates (if you drain them all into a colander, they could get stuck together and form one very large ravioli! Lay the left overs flat on a cookie sheet lined with parchment). Spoon the sauce on top. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

For the Love of Fresh Pasta

Mmmm, Fresh pasta! I would argue that if you haven’t had it, you have yet to experience all life has to offer. What’s the big difference between buying dried pasta and having it fresh? Well that’s like asking, oh I don’t know… what the difference between 12am and 12pm? It’s night and day!!! There is nothing like making pasta by hand. When I am making it, it's almost as if the colors of my world shift to antique hues and the little Tuscan grandmother in me comes alive. Now, I don’t exactly have a Tuscan grandmother, BUT i've spent enough time learning about and eating traditional Tuscan food that I think I do have a little Tuscan fairygrandmother. Making pasta is a labor of love. I think that’s the difference actually. A lot of things taste better with a little love in them… it’s my not-so-secret ingredient. In fresh pasta, you can taste it lingering in every bite.  I have only recently started making it in my own home, but I already feel almost guilty making pasta dishes with the dried variety. I see my little pasta machine sitting there on the shelf as I reach for store bought stuff and I imagine the rejection it must feel. Like how all that puppy in the window must feel when it sees one of the others being chosen and not him.

 

(see... antique hues!) photograph made possible by roomie

We all know it’s equally fun going out at 12am and 12pm but for different reasons. It’s the same when it comes to fresh vs. dried pasta. They are both great in different circumstances. Obviously… if you don’t have a pasta machine like this one, you aren’t going to be making rigatoni any time soon! But you can make ravioli or fettuccini. Dried pasta is best with your hearty sauces like rich marinara. Fresh is delicate and needs a sauce of the same nature.

One of my closest friends and I collaborated on this recipe.  Often times it hasn’t even hit noon yet and we are throwing around ideas for dinner. Always a good start to the day. When coming up with this pasta, we were thinking fresh & light yet cheesy & substantial. When we had decided on all the ingredients, we knew it was going to be good, but we didn’t know it was going to be THIS good! This is a slow sauce to make, one that doesn’t require a lot of attentiveness and it gets better the longer it cooks. Like one of Pavlov’s dogs, I salivate at the sound of the ricotta cheese mixing with the pasta and melting into the crevasses. I was so hypnotized by the sound, in fact, that I completely forgot to take a picture of the final result. Forgive me, it wont happen again.
  
Fresh Rigatoni with Heirloom Cherry Tomato Sauce
serves about 4

Fresh pasta is not necessary for this recipe. Feel free to use dried, it will still be delicious.

To make the pasta I followed the recipe that came with my pasta maker... but any will do. You do not need a stand mixer to make pasta dough.

For the Pasta dough:

• 4 large eggs
• 3 1/2 c. sifted all-purpose flour (sift first, then measure out 3 1/2 c.)
• 2 Tbls. water
• 1 Tbls. salt

Break eggs into a glass measuring cup
     Place flour and salt in stand mixer bowl. Beat at low speed and gradually add in the eggs plus 2 Tbls. water. Mix for 30 seconds. Stop and exchange the flat beater for the dough hook. Turn to low speed for about 2 minutes.
    Remove mixture from bowl and place on a clean surface. Knead by hand for about a minute untill it is smooth and forms into a ball.
    This is when you add the dough in small balls into the pasta maker and it comes out in pretty shapes :)

For the Sauce:

• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• extra virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced - use 4 the first time (i say first because you WILL want to make this again) but add in another clove the second time if you would like a stronger garlic flavor
• 2 cups (more or less) heirloom cherry tomatoes, halved
• 4 Tbls balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 of a 15 oz. container of ricotta cheese (I used whole ricotta, you could use skim if you want, but whole really is the way to go)
• 3 oz. goat cheese
• 2 handfuls of arugula
• 1/2 c. basil, roughly chopped
• about a dozen cranks of lemon pepper - I bought this at Trader's (as in Trader Joe's grocery store...we are on a first name basis thanks to my frequent visits). I bought it on a whim and now I add it to everything! Seriously Delicious

In a medium sized pan, pour enough olive oil to coat the bottom completely. Add the diced onion and a pinch of salt and sauté over a medium-low temperature. The slower you cook the onions the more delicious they get. You are not trying to brown them… you just want to sweat them out and make them happy and translucent. After about 5 minutes add the minced garlic. Keep cooking over a low temperature, once the onions become translucent, add the halved cherry tomatoes and another pinch of salt. Drizzle with a bit more olive oil and cook for a good while, I’m talking at least 20 minutes, until it is thick and glazed and saucy. Once it has all come together and reached this saucy stage, add the splash balsamic vinegar and turn up the temperature a little bit. Continue cooking until it is reduced and has turned the sauce a wonderful caramelized color. Resist eating this with a fork straight out of the pan… but its okay if your can't.

      (This is right before adding the balsamic vinegar)

You can keep the sauce over low heat while you cook the pasta. Since I am using the fresh rigatoni I made only hours beforehand, it takes about 3 minutes to cook. If you are using store bought pasta, follow the time on the box. Once the pasta is done, save about ½ c. of the pasta water and set it aside. Drain the pasta. In a large bowl, add the pasta, the cheeses (it is important to do this first so the heat from pasta really melts the cheese), the pasta water, the onion/tomato sauce, the arugula, basil, and lemon pepper. Toss all together until well incorporated. I like to have some freshly grated Parmesan to sprinkle on top. I also like to add a little salt and pepper once I’ve dished up my individual plate, but after I’ve tasted it to feel it out.

I had these leftovers cold for lunch the next day, YUM