Monday, October 18, 2010

Pumpkin ravioli

I only took one photo of our meal on Sunday. Too much going on and too much fun to be had. But I did manage this shot of the ravioli after I made them and before they got cooked. The filling is roasted pumpkin with minced sage leaves, grated parmesan, ground fennel seeds, grated nutmeg, salt, pepper, and an egg yolk.

Raw raviolis waiting for the water to boil. They cook for about four minutes.

I made the pasta with eggs and flour and a touch of milk. Marcella Hazan (The Classic Italian Cookbook) says that milk in the dough helps stuffed pastas (like ravioli or tortellini) to stick together. It seems to have worked. I rolled the dough on the pasta machine, cut the two halves of each ravioli with a fluted cutter, then pressed them together with the ravioli tool I found in the US last year. It all worked great.

I served three raviolis per person with sage butter, which is simply whole sage leaves cooked in melted butter with salt and pepper, and sprinkled toasted walnuts on top. I thought they tasted great! The main course was a pintade (guinea hen) roasted with shallots and a tray of roasted autumn vegetables (turnips, rutabaga, carrots, celery root, onions) with herbs. Ken wrote about it and posted his photos here. We also had a small green salad with a platter of cheeses, then a walnut tart for dessert.

Now I have a little pasta and a lot of filling left over, so I may make some more raviolis today. The rest of the filling will be made into timbales.

7 comments:

  1. You should have your own show. These look amazing!

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  2. My lordy me... who are these lucky folks who got to have such a great meal with you two! The cheese selection Ken described the other day sounded great, too. Is the sage butter with walnuts the same way you've served these pumpkin raviolis before?

    Judy

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  3. I've had some good ravoli in the Florimond restaurant in Paris- but yours look even better.

    Have you ever made pasties? We had our first ones in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. They are a favorite of miners.
    http://www.hu.mtu.edu/vup/pasty/recipes.htm

    I bet they would be good after a day of splitting wood also;)

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  4. This looks great, and I like hearing about the filling. I think I should use the sage I have growing outside more than I do. I noticed Ken also used sage with his pintade. I think I need to go have breakfast!

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  5. rick, they were very delicate and good.

    judy, yes, the same except for the walnuts. I think last time I used hazelnuts.

    evelyn, no, I haven't made those. One of these days!

    kristi, it's good to use what grows outside the door. Sometimes we take it for granted and don't use it as often as we should. But we rarely need to buy herbs in the supermarket any more.

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  6. just beautiful! great work! i'm such a fan of Marcella -i'll check for the recipe. i'm cooking down a pumpkin today.
    :-)

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  7. Wow! This is pretty interesting. I just love to try this one.

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