It was super hard to choose a name for this one. I wanted to call it "Stereotypical fall food" but it wasn't very informative haha. Ok... Just a warning! I made this on a crisp autumn Sunday when I had nothing else to do. With the Missy Elliott station on Pandora, I basically cooked all day. This is not one of my quick recipes.
Here are ways to speed it up:
* Using canned or frozen pumpkin/squash
* Using a pasta attachment rather than hand rolling
* Using a favorite pre-made sauce
Personally, I enjoyed the day of cooking, and I'm sure the food tasted better for the lack of shortcuts. For all of you visual learners out there, this time I tried to do a little video :). I hope it helps!
Baking the Acorn Squash and Pumpkin: (skip this step if you're using pre-cooked)
1 Small Pumpkin Pie Pumpkin
1 Acorn Squash
Olive oil (to brush the surface)
Baking
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Cut squashes in half horizontally and remove the seeds (save these in a separate bowl for a yummy treat! I'll add those instructions at the bottom of the page). Place water 1" deep into the bottom of a glass baking dish, and place the squash cut side down in the dish. Poke holes with a fork in the skin and brush the surface with olive oil. Place in the oven for 30 minutes (I checked after 20 and left them in 10 more minutes). Poke surface with a fork. It's ready when it goes in very easily. Peel all of the squash after it's cooled. Keep the acorn squash as is to add to the recipe later, and make a puree out of the pumpkin.
Pumpkin Puree:
To make the pumpkin Puree, simply allow the pumpkin to cool, then remove the skin. This should be easy as long as it has been cooked properly. Add the pumpkin and 1/2 cup water to a blender and blend away! That's it ;).
Ravioli:
Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup pumpkin puree (heaping)
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl (I added the puree between the cups of flour to make mixing easier. A mixer with a dough hook would work for this as well). Cut the ingredients together with a spatula until the flour covers everything, then knead it a bit, forming it into a ball. Cover and set aside.
Filling:
Ingredients
1 1/2 TBS Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 TBS sliced Shallot
1 tsp chopped Ginger
1/2 roasted Acorn Squash
1/2 tsp Thyme
1 TBS Nutritional Yeast
1/4 tsp Chipotle powder (opt)
2/3 cup shredded Daiya Cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste
Directions
In a medium skillet on medium low heat, add the oil. Once oil is hot, add the ginger and shallot. Cook for about 5 minutes until the shallot is soft. Add the Thyme and squash, turning up the heat to medium and stirring the whole time. After the texture of the squash is like a pasty glob (real technical here... about 10 minutes), move off of heat. After allowing this mixture to cool, place in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour mixture into a bowl and add the nutritional yeast, chipotle powder, Daiya cheese, salt and pepper.
*NOTE* When making the filling, keep in mind that this is what it will taste like in the end. It may seem like the flavors are too strong, but the mild flavor of the sauce and the pasta will balance it out in the end. If the filling isn't flavorful enough, the dish will turn out bland. I made my filling quite salty, but the choice is yours. I also ended up having extra filling, but I'd rather have too much than not enough.
Putting it together
Now comes the fun part! Place water and a pinch of salt in a big pot and start it boiling. If you have a pasta machine, now is a good time to use it. Otherwise, take a 3" chunk of the ravioli dough and roll it out with a rolling pin. Then fold it and roll it out again. Repeat this 4 times. Finally, roll the dough into a rectangle shape about 3" wide and 1/16" thick. Put a nickel sized amount of filling down one side of the rectangle, spacing them out about an inch. Then, slightly dampen the edges of the pasta dough and in-between the filling, then bring the other side of the dough over the filling and seal it with your fingers. If you have a pasta cutter, that seals and cuts you can use that to separate the raviolis. Otherwise, go ahead and use a knife to separate them, then seal the edges with a fork. Whatever your method the point is, seal up the dough edges around the filling so that it won't come out. Easy. Now your water should be boiling, so place the raviolis that you created into the pot and stir it in the beginning to make sure they don't stick to the bottom. Allow them to cook for 3-4 minutes. I allowed mine to float to the top then cook for an additional 30 seconds. If you're fast you can break off another piece of dough and get started on the next batch while the other raviolis are cooking. When finished cooking, remove raviolis from the pot and put in a strainer over the sink. Rinse in cold water to prevent further cooking while the other batches are being prepared. Continue process until dough is finished. This will make about 20-25 raviolis with a diameter of 1 1/2" by 1 1/2".
Sauce:
Ingredients
2 1/2 TBS Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 cup Soy milk
1/2 cup Nutritional Yeast
2 tsp Flour (preferably mixed separately with 2 TBS water before adding to avoid chunks)
1/8 tsp Nutmeg (a little goes a long way. I barely caught a hint of it in the end, so add a bit more if you like it)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Directions
This one's easy! Combine olive oil and soy milk in a medium skillet set on medium heat. Continue to stir until it bubbles. Allow mixture to bubble on medium heat and stir in the flour (or flour/water mixture), and continue to stir as it thickens. Reduce heat to medium low and stir in the nutritional yeast, nutmeg, and salt and pepper. Remove from heat!
I was going for a mild and light alfredo-ish sauce with a bit of a autumn twinge! When the sauce is finished, add the Raviolis to the skillet and mix them in to heat them up and coat them with the sauce. Plate them and add a little cracked pepper to top it off! After all of that hard work, even if they turn out disgusting, you'll think they're the best ever hahaha. Honestly though, I hope you enjoy it. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think, changes you made, etc.
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Roasted Pumpin/ Acorn Squash seeds:
As an added bonus, while you wait for the squash to bake, prepare some yummy seeds! It takes a bit of time, but use your fingers over a bowl to separate the seeds from the innards of the squash. Throw out the mush and keep the seeds. I rinsed the seeds with water after removing most of the mush and they separated from the bits remaining and it was easier to get the seeds separate.
Ingredients
Seeds (I had approximately 1 cup)
1/8 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp Seasoned Salt
1 TBS Olive Oil
Directions
Mix the olive oil into the bowl of seeds. Then add all spices! Spread the seeds onto a foil covered pan and add a sprinkle more seasoned salt (I like them super salty!). Bake at 250 degrees F for 10 minutes, then change the temp to 300 degrees for the next 15 minutes. To be honest, I over checked these. I looked every 3-5 minutes. The problem is, they should be crispy but it's easy to burn them. Keep in mind they will cook a bit when you take them out. If they seem crispy but not burned, they're ready! Let them cool then eat them up :).
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