Last week, we covered the recipes for the amuse bouche and appetizer that Kirk and I created for our Fall Pairing Dinner. This week, it’s time to share the entrée and dessert from that delicious date night meal. Let’s start with the entrée that Kirk created first – Butternut Squash Ravioli in Roasted Garlic Beurre Blanc!
I have to admit that the pictures I took of this meal on the night of our pairing dinner actually turned out horribly. Thank goodness Kirk volunteered to make this again last week, because I really wanted to do this dish justice. I still don’t think these are my best photos, but at least they look tasty!
And in case you were curious about the buerre blanc sauce, YES it’s vegan! These sauces are so easy to veganize using non-dairy substitutes.
- +Pasta dough:
- 1 cup all-purpose or semolina flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup water
- +Filling:
- 2 lb butternut squash
- ¼ cup non-dairy cream cheese
- Cooking spray
- Sauce:
- 1 head garlic
- 1 T olive oil
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
- 1 head roasted garlic chopped (see directions)
- 1/2 lb unsalted non-dairy butter, cold
- Kosher salt, to taste
- Grape Tomatoes, halved
- Oregano
- +For the Pasta:
- In a large bowl, mix flour and salt. Add warm water and stir to make a stiff dough. Increase water if dough seems too dry. Pat the dough into a ball and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 10 to 15 minutes. Cover. Let dough rest for 20 minutes. Roll out dough using rolling pin or pasta machine. Work with a 1/2 of the dough at one time. Keep the rest covered, to prevent from drying out. Roll by hand to 1/16 of an inch thick. By machine, stop at the second to last setting. Using ravioli mold, lay ½ sheet over mold. Fill each mold w/ 1 heaping teaspoon of filling.
- Fold other half over to cover. Roll over with rolling pin to seal raviolis. Remove from mold.
- +For the Filling:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Peel. Chop into ½ inch cubes. Place the squash on a cookie sheet coated with cooking spray. Roast the squash until the flesh is easily pierced with a fork (about 30 minutes). Let cool. Mix with ¼ cup cream cheese in mixer. Consistency should be paste-like.
- +For the Roasted Garlic:
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulb skin, leaving the skins of the individual cloves intact. Using a knife, cut off 1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic.Place the garlic heads in a baking pan; muffin pans work well for this purpose. Drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil over each head, using your fingers to make sure the garlic head is well coated. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 400°F for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed. Allow the garlic to cool enough so you can touch it without burning yourself. Use a small small knife cut the skin slightly around each clove. Use a cocktail fork or your fingers to pull or squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins.
- +For the Buerre Blanc:
- Heat wine, vinegar and garlic in a saucepan until the liquid boils, then lower the heat a bit and continue simmering until the liquid has reduced down to about 2 tablespoons. This should take about 10 minutes.While the liquid reduces you can cut the butter into medium (½-inch) cubes, but either leave this until the reduction is nearly finished or return the butter cubes to the refrigerator to keep them cold while the liquid finishes reducing.Once the wine-vinegar mixture has reduced to 2 tablespoons, reduce the heat to low and start adding the cubes of butter, one or two at a time, and whisk rapidly with a wire whisk. As the butter melts and incorporates, add more butter and keep whisking. Continue until you only have 2-3 cubes remaining. Remove from heat while whisking in the last few cubes, and whisk for a moment or two more. The finished sauce should be thick and smooth. Season to taste with Kosher salt. Assemble immediately.
- +Assembly:
- Cook raviolis in boiling water until they float. Serve topped with sweet basil and buerre blanc, tomatoes, and oregano.
This is a recipe I would be happy to have more often, maybe I need more practice photographing ravioli? 😉
********************
Questions for you:
- Have you ever made homemade pasta?
- What’s your favorite fall squash?
