Are you up for a challenge? I was and I really wanted to use my leftover won ton wraps. I am making a valiant effort not to waste food items these days whenever possible. Sometimes that means I need to get creative and find new combinations of ingredients to comprise a dish. So when I found a recipe for Butternut Squash, Sage & Goat Cheese Ravioli with Hazelnut Brown-Butter Sauce, I knew it would be the perfect thing to try! This month I made several pasta dishes but I always wondered about using won ton wraps instead of pasta for the ease of assembling ravioli. I have to say that using won ton wraps was a breeze! No mess; no fuss and if you don’t overcook them, they taste wonderful!!
In my latest CSA box (Community Supported Agriculture), I received a nice size butternut squash and I had some leftover fresh goat cheese from my Valentine’s Day pizza so I was on my way to trying out a new recipe! I thought ahead, which is always nice, and roasted the squash while I was in the kitchen preparing a prior meal. I then mashed it and stored it in the refrigerator to be used the next day for my ravioli. This eliminated time & one step, and was easily done while busily doing other tasks.
The recipe called for ground sage, but since I still had some growing in my herb garden from last year, I decided to use fresh sage. I find it is always better to use fresh herbs when possible as it lends a much more subtle and fresh flavor to your food. When converting from dried to fresh the ratio is 3-1. If it calls for one teaspoon of dried herbs, use 1 tablespoon of fresh. I chopped my onion rather small and made sure to cook it until translucent and golden so that it would take on a sweeter flavor and not overpower the squash.
The recipe called for aged goat cheese, but since I was trying to use what I had on hand, I used fresh crumbled goat cheese and I think it worked very nicely. Some things that I learned from making this recipe were that the won ton wraps did not seem to dry out very quickly as it said, so it was really not necessary to keep them all covered until use. You can actually lay out a few at a time to make more of an assembly line for a faster process. I would suggest using an egg yolk wash to brush on the edges of the won ton to seal it better than the suggested water seal. This is basically a whisked egg yolk with about a teaspoon or so of water. It acts like a glue to seal your edges together. In addition, I used my square ravioli cutter to press the edges eliminating the need to use the tines of a fork and it gave all of the ravioli a nice, uniform look. You can use a pastry wheel for this task or a fork as well.
Depending on how many raviolis you make, you need to cook them in batches of no more than about 8 or 10 at a time. This keeps them from sticking together and allows them to finish at the same time. Make sure to keep the water at a gentle boil. This is very important to help keep them intact! Cook them until they rise to the surface and are tender. I found it to be around 3-4 minutes, which is less than the recipe called for. The recipe suggested laying the cooked raviolis in a pan filled with about 1/2 inch of water from the cooking pot. I found this made them too soft since the water continued to cook them and that placing them on top of each other tended to get them sticking together. Next time I will lay them out on moistened parchment lined sheets in a single layer.
Here are some tips for reheating ravioli:
- Use a vegetable steamer over simmering water
- Add a little water and then warm them in the microwave on a lower setting
- Pan fry them
- Re boil, by dipping them in gently boiling water for 1 minute (I would suggest undercooking them initially a bit for this process)
- Microwave them on a lower setting in their sauce
For the sauce, I didn’t have hazelnuts, so I used pine nuts and they went splendidly with the ravioli! I made sure to warm the butter until it was just starting to turn color before I added the pine nuts so they wouldn’t get too toasty. I also added some fresh sage leaves in the butter at the end to crispin them up a bit. When serving, make sure to put a sparingly small drizzle over the ravioli as it is rich on it’s own and needs only a little sauce to finish it off.
Original Recipe: from Epicurious
yield
Makes 30 ravioli, serving 6 generously
ingredients
For filling
- a 2-pound butternut squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
- 1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground sage
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 3 ounces aged goat cheese, grated (about 2/3)
- 60 won ton wrappers, thawed if frozen
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup hazelnuts,toasted lightly and skinned and chopped coarse
preparation
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). Carefully transfer ravioli as cooked with a slotted spoon to a large shallow baking pan and add enough cooking water to reach 1/2 inch up side of pan. Keep ravioli warm, covered.
Transfer ravioli with a slotted spoon ) letting excess cooking liquid drip off) to 6 plates and top with hazelnut brown-butter sauce.
A serving of 3 raviolis per person seem to be about the right appetizer size and plated nicely. You can add some grated parmesan and a sage leaf on top for garnish if you wish. Now just enjoy as they melt in your mouth with a burst of flavors! Your guests will be very impressed!!
(See Recipe Index under Appetizer for Print Version)
Comment on “Butternut Squash, Sage and Goat Cheese Ravioli with Hazelnut Brown-Butter Sauce”
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Sounds and looks yummy! A bit beyond my capacity to reproduce, I think, though. Unless I have a lazy, rainy day to experiment. Where’s that rain!