butternut squash and sage ravioli

I made my own pasta for an amuse bouche at a dinner party. Oh my god it was difficult without a pasta machine, but kind of worth it…

Ingredients

For the filling -

Whole butternut squah

Palm full of fresh sage

3 sprigs of fresh thyme

A good glug of olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

For the pasta -

6 large eggs

600g 00 grade pasta flour

OR! BUY FRESH LASAGNE SHEETS FROM THE SUPERMARKET

1. Start by peeling, de-seeding and chopping your squash in to roast potato sized chunks, pop them in to salted water to boil until soft.

2. After the squash has boiled, drain and mash until smooth.

3. Now put the mash on to a low heat, and add the olive oil, herbs and seasoning. Stir and taste. The mash should be fragrant and savoury, I sometimes add grated parmesan, but it depends if you want to keep it a vegan recipe or not.

4. Now that the mash has been made, leave it to cool whilst you start measuring and combining the eggs and flour to make the pasta dough.

5. To make the dough, pop the flour on to a clean work surface, make a well in the middle and crack the eggs in to it. Beat the eggs until smooth and start combining with the flour.

6. Now knead that dough until your arms feel like they’re burning. You need to develop the gluten in the pasta otherwise it’ll be flabby and gross. You’ll feel the change in the dough, it’ll turn very smooth instead of rough and floury.

If you are lucky enough to have a pasta machine, use it (although you can make this recipe so much easier by purchasing fresh lasagne sheets and cutting out circles from it). I spent an hour trying to get my dough thin enough because there’s nothing worse than thick ravioli. After I managed to roll the dough, I cut circles out with a wine glass, and started filling the pasta with a teaspoon of the herby squash mixture, laying another circle of pasta on top and pinching the sides together.

7. Salt a pot of boiling water and gently lower the parcels into the water, cook for about 3-5 minutes.

8. Serve with a drizzle of good olive oil, pepper and a grating of parmesan.