Butternut Squash, Sage, and Goat Cheese Raviolis with Hazelnut Brown-Butter
After a long weekend of celebrating Chris’s 23rd birthday and a night out in Atlantic City, you’d think all I wanted to do on Sunday was lay on the couch and nap, right? Wrong. I was feeling overly ambitious yesterday and decided that I wanted to cook dinner. Specifically, I wanted to make these raviolis I found the recipe for the other day. I was sold when I saw goat cheese. All I could think of was breaking open one of these raviolis and melty goat cheese pouring out. See, now you know why I absolutely had to make these.
Please don’t be discouraged by making your own raviolis. These were super easy, but a bit time consuming so if you do plan to try these, keep that in mind. I made the filling and the sauce from scratch, but did cheat with the actual making of the ravioli. The recipe called from won ton wrappers rather than making your own pasta. This way was much simpler. Next time I make these and have the time to make my own pasta, I will. For now, won ton wrappers will work. (Please note: these are found in the produce section of your grocery store by the tofu. I spent far too long walking up and down the frozen food aisle looking for pasta dough of some sort.)
The first thing you have to do is roast your butternut squash. Grab a generally small squash and cut it length ways in half. This takes a little muscle work, but the cut doesn’t have to be even. No need to peel it before it goes in the oven either, but I did cut out the seeds and stringy stuff in the middle. Roast that for about a half hour in a 425 degree oven. I was really surprised to find how tender it was and how easy it was to scoop it out. While the butternut squash roasts, prepare your onion mixture, which is just chopped onions, sage leaves, garlic, and butter.
Mix your mashed butternut squash with the onion mixture and goat cheese. You’ll have a bowl of mushy goodness. Spoon about a tablespoon into the center of a won ton wrap, wet the edges with water, and place another won ton wrap directly on top. You don’t want any air in the middle so try to press any extra out at this time.
Make sure all edges are sealed up and place them on a clean kitchen towel. By now, you should have started boiling your water. When your water has gotten to a gentle boil, lower the heat just a bit because you don’t want your water boiling too much when the raviolis are in. These raviolis are very delicate and you don’t want them breaking open in the water. The recipe says they need to cook for about 6 minutes, but I took mine out around 5 minutes because I didn’t want the won ton wrapper too soft.
The combination of the butternut squash, goat cheese, sage, and hazelnuts is brilliant. It’s a burst of unique flavors in your mouth that I’m positive you’ll enjoy. You can either boil these or bake them in the oven at 375 degrees for 16 minutes (shown in the picture above). That method give them a crunchy outside and, for some reason, makes the goat cheese flavor really pop. This recipe makes over 30 raviolis, so you have a chance to try them both ways! Enjoy!!
Butternut Squash, Safe, and Goat Cheese Raviolis with Hazelnut Brown Butter Sauce adapted from epicurious
Ingredients
- 2 lb butternut squash; halved lengthwise and seeded
- 1 medium onion; chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 1 1/2 tsp ground sage
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 clove garlic
- 3 oz aged goat cheese; grated (about 2/3 cup)
- 60 won ton wrappers; thawed if frozen
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup hazelnuts; toasted lightly and skinned and chopped coarse
Directions
Preheat oven to 425°F. and lightly grease a baking sheet.
Make filling:
Put squash halves, flesh sides down, an baking sheet and roast in middle of oven 30 minutes, or until flesh is very tender. When squash is cool enough to handle, scoop out flesh into a bowl and discard skin. Mash squash with a fork until smooth.
While squash is roasting, in a skillet cook onion and sage in butter with salt and pepper to taste over moderate heat, stirring, 5 minutes, or until onion is golden brown. Stir in garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute.
Cool onion mixture slightly and add to squash. Add goat cheese and stir to combine well.
In a 6-quart kettle bring 5 quarts salted water to a gentle boil for ravioli.
Put 1 won ton wrapper on a lightly floured surface, keeping remaining wrappers in plastic wrap, and mound 1 tablespoon filling in center. Lightly brush edges of wrapper with water and put a second wrapper over first, pressing down around filling to force out air and seal edges well. If desired, trim excess dough with a round cutter or sharp knife. Transfer ravioli to a dry kitchen towel. Make more ravioli with remaining wrappers and filling in same manner, transferring as formed to towel and turning occasionally to dry slightly.
In skillet cook butter with hazelnuts over moderate heat until butter begins to brown, about 3 minutes, and immediately remove from heat (nuts will continue to cook). Season hazelnut butter with salt and pepper and keep warm, covered.
Cook ravioli in 3 batches in gently boiling eater 6 minutes, or until they rise to surface and are tender (do not let water boil vigorously once ravioli have been added).
Transfer ravioli with a slotted spoon (letting excess cooking liquid drip off) to 6 plates and top with hazelnut brown-butter sauce.