Roasted Pumpkin Ravioli with parmesan sauce and toasted hazelnuts

I’d been planning this recipe for weeks before I knew for sure the ingredient for October was pumpkin. Thanks, Scott - it’s one of my favorite things. I love pumpkins! I really wanted to work with a whole pumpkin – no canned pumpkin for this challenge. After tasting my ravioli filling, I made the right choice! Get ready for a party in your mouth!

Roasted Pumpkin Ravioli Filling:

1 sugar pumpkin

1 sweet onion

8-10 large, fresh sage leaves, chopped

Chicken, cooked and shredded (I used 3 boneless, skinless breasts cooked with poultry seasoning, salt and white wine)

olive oil

salt

pepper

1 Tbs. brown sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 450.

Cut pumpkin in half and discard seeds

Cut the pumpkin into wedges and peel with a veggie peeler

Cube pumpkin and sweet onion.

Toss with olive oil, sage, salt and pepper

Put veggies on a single layer on a cookie sheet.

Roast for 35 minutes, stirring veggies half way through.

Remove from oven and sprinkle with brown sugar. Put pan on a wire rack for cooling.

When cool, puree in food processor. Mix with chicken.

This will yield a boatload of filling.

Parmesan sauce:

4 Tbs. butter

4 Tbs. flour

2 Cups whole milk

1 Cup parmesan-reggiano cheese, shredded

In a heavy sauce pan, melt the butter.

Add the flour and cook for 4 -5 minutes, stirring until turning golden

Slowly wisk in milk. Cook until it begins to thicken.

Stir in cheese.

To toast hazelnuts place raw nuts in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Roast in an oven preheated to 27

5 for 30-35 minutes. The skin will begin to crack and the meat will be starting to turn gold. Remove from oven and place nuts on a kitchen towel. Gather corners of the towel up and twist closed. Holding the towel closed with one hand, knead the bundle of nuts with your other hand. The skins will come right off. Coarsely chop nuts.

I intended to use fresh lasagna sheets from Whole Foods to make the ravioli. I pulled them out and attempted to make the ravioli. I realized, as soon as they were out of the package, that I would have to do something to get them to stick together as they were fairly heavily floured. As I was attempting to assemble the pasta I realized that the sheets I had were too thick and heavy. The weight from the top sheet was causing the filling (which wasn’t very dense or heavy at all) to seep out the sides of the pasta. I tried to make 4 and realized the dough was just not going to work.

I ended up making a basic pasta dough (the recipe) and while it was sitting, I ran to Bed, Bath and Beyond and picked up a pasta maker. When I got home, my dough was ready to be rolled out. My friend, George, was coming over for dinner and he was put to work as soon as he got here. He helped me feed the dough into the pasta maker. I rolled the pasta “whisper thin” (as my cousin Michael would say) because the filling was quite delicate.

When it was all rolled out and George and I had started in on the wine, bread, and olive oil, I put George to work. He was in charge of cooking the pasta while I made the parmesan sauce to go on the top. When it was all done and plated, it had the potential to appear very bland since it was all the same color. Plating the salad and sprinkling the hazelnuts on top helped a lot.

It was a smashing success. The ravioli was incredible. The filling was a light and a little sweet. It worked really well with the saltiness of the parmesan sauce. The hazelnuts added some texture, which the dish needed. I served it with a green salad with goat cheese and cranberries and a zinfandel. The wine paired nicely with it. I tend to enjoy zin with fall meals regardless of the meat and / or sauce color. It went quite well.

Will I make this again? YES! Will I make any adjustments to my recipe? NO – it was fabulous. George and I sounded like the old Sanka commercials that used to play when I was growing up. There was a lot of mmmmm-ing at the table. It was a fabulous fall dinner that deserves another showing soon.