2 Things with Butternut Squash

Huck, clearly impressed.

We got two butternut squash in our bountiful basket this week, and I'm a little souped out, so I decided to go huge and try making the most delicious of dishes: butternut squash ravioli.  I don't have any tools for rolling out pasta (besides a rolling pin), so I thought I couldn't do it on my own.  I planned on cheating and buying won-ton wrappers, but none of the grocery stores I went to had any.  The lady I asked at Trader Joe's said they didn't carry them anymore and that I should go down to any of the Asian markets on Spring Mountain.  It's something I like to do anyway, but I was so frustrated at that point that I decided to just do it myself.

 Since I've never made my own pasta before, I consulted my CIA contacts* for help.  Two young men involved with the CIA who will be known only as Boud and Pool to protect their identities explained the process.  "Flour and eggs," they told me.  "It's just flour and eggs."  They instructed me to create a basin of flour and crack eggs into it until it felt right (Pool said about four), mix it by hand, knead, and let it rest for 20 minutes.  I was instructed that the dough would be stiff, but that this was normal.

 While I fully trust my contacts, I did not trust myself to understand text-based instructions.  I am a visual learner, thankfully, I found this video on youtube.  Armed with instructions, I set out to create ravioli dough.  It turns out making pasta is messy and fun, and I love it.

The delightfully European man in the cooking video that refused embedding says to use egg yolks only or the dough will be stiff.  I chose to include the egg whites because I felt stiff dough would be easier to roll out by had without breaking.  When I get a pasta machine, because now I have to have one, I will switch to using just the yolks.

I managed to mix the flour and eggs into a firm dough and, after letting it sit for 20 minutes or so, rolled it out with a rolling pin.  I ended up with two very narrow ovals of dough which I tried filling in two different ways.  I placed spoonfuls of my butternut squash mixture along one side of the first oval and cut it into strips with a pizza cutter (fancy!)  Then I folded the strips in half with the filling in the middle sealing the edges.  This worked, but wasn't very pretty due to my imprecise dough.

I used a shot glass (fancy!) to cut the second sheet of dough into circles which were pressed together with a scoop of filling between.  These raviolis looked prettier, but wasted some dough.

The whole process was easier than I anticipated, and the raviolis tasted great but were a little thick.  Gotta get that pasta maker.

Butternut Squash Ravioli Filling

• 1 butternut squash, halved and seeded
• olive oil
• butter
• 1 large leek (white part only) halved and cut into small strips (be careful to wash between the layers of the leek; nobody likes sandy raviolis) 
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 10-12 fresh sage leaves

1. Preheat oven to 400, brush olive oil over the cut sides of the squash and season with salt and pepper. Place the squash cut side down in a baking dish and bake for about 40 minutes (until soft).  Scoop the cooked squash out of its skin and place in a food processor to puree.
2. While the squash is cooking, melt 2 tbsp butter and saute the leek until browned.  Add finely chopped sage leaves and Parmesan cheese when the leek is nearly done.
3. Add the leek mixture to the butternut squash in the food processor and puree until smooth.
4. Stuff ravioli dough or won-ton wrappers with the butternut squash mixture and boil 3-4 minutes (until they float to the top)

Tonight's adventure in squash is less ambitious, but equally delicious.  I made a gratin of  butternut squash (skinned, seeded, and sliced with a small mandolin - microwave the squash for about 3 minutes to make slicing easier) to be served with simple pork chops. 

Butternut Squash and Spinach Gratin

1. Skin, seed and slice a butternut squash.
2. Blanch, drain and chop 1 bunch spinach (or use about 1 cup frozen chopped spinach).
3. Saute half a cup of diced onion and two cloves of garlic in 2 tbsp butter. 
4. Add onion and garlic to spinach along with 1/4 tsp nutmeg, salt and pepper, and 1/2 c cream.
5. Layer sliced squash, spinach mixture, and grated Parmesan cheese in a buttered casserole and bake at 400 for about half an hour or until browned and bubbling. 

*Culinary Institute of America