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.