For company
Butternut and ricotta ravioli with toasted hazelnuts
Roasted butternut mashed with homemade ricotta, parmesan, nutmeg and toasted hazelnuts, sealed into fresh pasta and dressed in burnt butter with candied pine nuts.
This is what I made my first batch of homemade ricotta for. Sweet squash, creamy cheese, and hazelnuts for the crunch that stops it being baby food.
Method
- 01
Heat the oven to 200°C. Rub the butternut halves with olive oil, season, and roast cut-side down for 45 to 55 minutes until completely soft and caramelised at the edges.
- 02
Toast the hazelnuts on a dry tray for 8 minutes while the squash roasts, then rub off any skins and chop them roughly. Keep a handful back for scattering at the table.
- 03
Scoop the butternut flesh into a sieve set over a bowl and let it drain for 20 minutes. Wet filling is the enemy of ravioli — be ruthless about this.
- 04
Mash the drained flesh smooth, then fold in the ricotta, parmesan, most of the hazelnuts, a generous grating of fresh nutmeg, plenty of black pepper and salt to taste.
- 05
If the mixture is at all loose, beat in the egg yolk and the breadcrumbs. It should hold its shape on a spoon. Chill for 20 minutes.
- 06
Roll your pasta sheets thin. Working with one sheet at a time, place teaspoons of filling in a line, about 5cm apart.
- 07
Brush around each mound with beaten egg, lay a second sheet over the top, and press out every bit of air from the centre outwards with your fingertips. Trapped air bursts ravioli in the pot.
- 08
Cut with a round cutter or a fluted wheel, press the edges once more, and lay the ravioli on a semolina-dusted tray without touching each other.
- 09
Cook in a wide pan of well-salted, gently simmering water — never a rolling boil — for 3 to 4 minutes, until they float and the pasta at the seam is tender.
- 10
Lift them out with a slotted spoon straight into the burnt butter sauce, turn gently to coat, and serve with the reserved hazelnuts, candied pine nuts and more parmesan.
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