Recipe of the Month
PUMPKIN RAVIOLI
A favorite dish of Gretchen McKay from Buon Appetito! on a recent trip to Italy's Amalfi Coast was the succulent pumpkin ravioli served at Il Grottino Azzurro, a tiny family-run trattoria in Positano. This recipe from Wolfgang Puck is darn close.
- 10 tablespoons (5 ounces) unsalted butter
- 1 pound fresh pumpkin, peeled and cut in 1-inch cubes
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1/2 bay leaf
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh sage, plus 6 leaves for garnish
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme leaves
- 2 eggs, beaten
- Salt and white pepper
- 1/2 recipe pasta dough (recipe follows)
- 1 egg, beaten lightly, for wash
- Semolina
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 2 shallots, chopped
Heat a saute pan over low heat and add 4 tablespoons butter. When foamy, add the cubed pumpkin and cook, stirring often, until it softens into a puree.Turn pumpkin into a saucepan, add 1/2 of the cream, the 1/2 bay leaf and half the herbs and cook over a low heat for 1 hour, or until puree is thick and liquid has evaporated. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching. Remove from heat and beat in 2 tablespoons of butter. Whisk in the beaten eggs; season, to taste, with salt and pepper and set aside to cool.On a floured surface, roll out the pasta as thin as possible. Cut into 2 sheets and brush 1 of them with egg wash. Using a teaspoon, place 24 equal mounds of the pumpkin puree on the egg-washed dough, about 2 inches apart. Cover the mounded dough with the second sheet of pasta and press around the mounds of pumpkin to seal the dough.Using a ravioli cutter or a sharp knife, cut ravioli. Dust a tray with semolina and place ravioli on it. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, while you make the sauce.Prepare the sauce: In a saucepan, reduce the stock with the shallots to 1/2 cup. Add the remaining cream and reduce by half. Over a low heat, whisk in the remaining 4 tablespoons butter, a little at a time, over low heat. Strain the sauce into a clean saucepan and add the remaining sage and thyme. Season to taste with salt and pepper.Add the ravioli to the rapidly boiling water and cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain. Add the ravioli to the sauce and bring just to a boil. Correct the seasonings.Divide the ravioli among preheated soup dishes and spoon the sauce over them. Garnish each serving with a fresh sage leaf. Serve immediately.For the pasta dough
- 1 1/2 cups semolina flour, finest grind
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 eggs
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Combine flours in food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add salt, eggs and olive oil. Process until dough begins to mass on blade (about 1 to 2 minutes). Remove dough from the processor and press it into a ball. Wrap in plastic and let rest at least 2 hours in refrigerator before rolling and cutting.Divide the dough into 4 pieces and roll and cut 1 at a time as desired. Keep the unrolled dough covered to prevent it from drying. Place any cut pasta on baking sheets that have been liberally dusted with semolina.Yields 1 1/2 pounds.-- "The Wolfgang Puck Cookbook" (Random House, 1996)
