Pumpkin Ricotta Ravioli

Someone on my favorite messageboard was talking about making homemade pasta. Uh oh! There goes my Monday afternoon I thought. I remembered that I had once gotten a pasta machine as a gift, but had never used it! I had made ravioli in the past but always just with a rolling pin. Turns out the machine is super awesome and makes the process easy! The recipe is strongly based on 'Ravioli alla Ricotta' from my Italian Cookbook called 'Talismano Della Felicita'. I purchased this when I was in Rome, learning Italian. Use translation at your own risk - my summer in Rome was many moons ago.

Pasta:

4 eggs
400g flour
2 Tbsp water

I made the dough in the Kitchen Aid with the dough hook, and had to add about 2 Tbsp more water. I think it depends on the flour. I didn't have proper pasta flour, so I used all-purpose.

Then you drive the dough through the machine, at successively smaller settings. If you don't have a machine, just do your best with a rolling pin, or even a straight-sided wine bottle.
The resulting pasta sheets should be even and pretty thin:

Then you make the filling:

Filling (original recipe):

400g Ricotta
1 egg
Parmesan (I don't think it said how much)
salt

My filling recipe:

200g Ricotta
200g cooked Butternut squash
1 egg
Parmesan
freshly ground pepper
salt

I mixed mine with my favorite immersion blender to make the squash all smooth. Then I put that into a ziploc bag and cut the corner off. Squeeze small amounts of the filling on the pasta sheets (brush the pasta sheet with water first):Then put a similar size pasta sheet on top and seal by pressing down, then cut into individual ravioli. The book said to do triangles but I did squares. I am such a rebel!

Boil in a lot of salty water until 'just right'. Maybe just about 5 minutes? Definitely do a taste test because it depends on how you rolled out your pasta.

Serve - the original recipe said to serve with melted butter and sage, but I served with some Walnut Pesto I had in the freezer. Not the best recipe so I don't include that here. I had some leftover filling, so I used it to fill some Pillsbury Crescent Rolls and they were just as delicious as the pasta. Buon Apetito!