Butternut Squash Ravioli

It's officially Fall! My favorite cooking and baking season!

I love the warm spices, and hearty vegetables autumn gives us. One of my favorite ingredients to cook with is squash, whether it's pumpkin, butternut, or acorn; the abundance of varieties gives me so much to work with. I wanted to open this season with my absolute favorite pasta, Butternut Squash Ravioli.

I chose to cook with butternut squash rather than pumpkin, because I enjoy the neutral flavor butternut squash has, as opposed to the somehow strong flavor of the pumpkin. It allows me to control the flavor a bit more.

I used the food processor to make the pasta, which I'm sure every Italian is fainting over at this very moment, but this process worked brilliantly! Not only was it quicker, but less messy!

If a food processor is not up to your alley or if you don't have one, my Fresh Pasta Dough recipe works perfectly for ravioli as well.

The filling is made with butternut squash, brown sugar, nutmeg, salt, and pepper - working beautifully together. The brown sugar brings out the natural sweetness of the squash, while the salt and pepper help balance those flavors, and a hint of nutmeg warms it all up!

Making the ravioli may be intimidating, but I promise you it's a lot easier than you think and tons of fun! A traditional ravioli is usually square, but today we are throwing the rule books out the window and making round ravioli.

I used a teaspoon to help to measure the filling, but you can use even a piping bag to ensure an even dollop.

Time to shape the ravioli! During this step, you can be creative, if you don't have a ravioli cutter, you may use a cup and crimp the edges with a fork, or a cookie-cutter works just as well.

Making pasta from scratch if often very intimidating, making people too afraid to try it, but I hope this recipe allows you to face your fears!

Remember, cooking is supposed to be fun, and even though you may not get it perfect the first time around, practice makes it perfect!

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Ingredients

Food Processor Pasta Dough

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 3 large eggs

Butternut Squash Filling

• 1 lb butternut squash

• 1 egg yolk

• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

• salt and pepper

Rosemary Brown Butter Sauce

• 2 -3 sprigs of rosemary

• 1 stick of salted butter

• 2 cloves garlic, minced or grated

• Salt and pepper

• 1/4 cup white wine 

Recipe

Ravioli Filling 

1. Preheat your oven to 400° F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

2. Place butternut squash on a pan, cut sides up. Prick the squash, drizzle with olive oil and generously season with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 45 minutes, or until soft. Allow to cool.

3. Scoop out the flesh of the squash into the bowl of a food processor. Add egg, brown sugar, nutmeg, and salt & pepper, purée until smooth. Place the filling in a bowl, cover, and set aside.

Pasta

1. In a clean food processor, add flour and salt, pulse a few times to combine. In a separate bowl, lightly beat eggs. Drizzle the eggs in a food processor, pulse until mixture comes together. * If the dough is too dry, drizzle in some water and pulse again, OR, if the mix is too wet, add some flour.

2. Turn the pasta dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead the dough into a smooth ball. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and rest for 30 minutes.

3.  Secure a pasta machine to the edge of a long countertop. Using a bench scraper, cut the dough into four pieces. Keep the extra dough covered in plastic wrap while working with one piece. With a rolling pin, roll a piece of dough into a rough rectangle so that it will fit inside the widest setting of the pasta machine. Roll the dough through the machine, catching it with one hand as you roll with the other. Take the dough and tri-fold it like a letter. Turn the dough, so one open end faces the machine and roll it through on the widest setting again. Fold, turn, and roll once more on the widest setting. 

4. Continue rolling the pasta through the machine without folding, adjusting the rollers to a smaller setting each time, until the desired thickness is reached. 

5. Place a 12-by-4 ½ - 5-inch sheet of pasta on a lightly floured surface with the longest edge facing you. Fold the dough in half lengthwise, press gently to make a crease, and then unfold the dough. 

6. Place about two teaspoons of the butternut squash filling 2 inches along the furthest edge of the pasta, about 1 1/2 inches in from the edge. Dip a finger in a small bowl of water and drag your finger around each mound of filling to moisten the pasta. 

7. Fold the front edge of the dough over the mounds. Starting in the center, gently press and shape the dough around each mound, working out to the sides. To ensure that the pasta cooks evenly, make sure the air is pressed out, and the filling is secured neatly in a circular mound in the pasta.

8. Use a 2-inch round pastry cutter to cut the ravioli into circles, Or, crimp edges with the tines of a fork. Transfer the ravioli to a lightly floured sheet pan with semolina flour. Repeat with the remaining dough to make about 40 raviolis.

9. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, brown the butter, stirring often until the butter is golden and toasted. Add the rosemary and garlic and cook 30 seconds to a minute or until fragrant. Pour in the wine, season with salt and pepper and bring to a simmer.

10. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Boil the ravioli in batches for 2-3 minutes or until they float. Drain. Be gentle when working with the ravioli as they are delicate.

11. Add the drained ravioli to the brown butter and toss to coat.

12. Serve immediately.

* Freeze leftover raviolis by placing them in a single layer on a baking sheet. Once they are frozen, transfer them to an airtight freezer-safe bag or container. Cook them straight from the freezer. 

Pea & Mint Risotto

Going green in celebration of Earth Day!

This fresh and vibrant green Pea and Mint Risotto is luxurious while still being a light dish. It’s perfect for a weeknight meal, as it is very quick to whip up.

When the warm weather arrives, my backyard gets taken over by mint! All Spring and Summer long I have plenty of mint to cook, bake and make tea with. So this recipe helps utilize my garden’s herbs and celebrate this wonderful day! GO GREEN!

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Ingredients 

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 1-½ cups uncooked Arborio rice

• 4 sprigs fresh mint

• 4 ½ cups reduced sodium chicken broth

• ⅓ cup white wine

• 1/3 cup frozen peas, thawed

• ½ cup parmesan cheese

Recipe

1. In a small saucepan, heat the broth and keep warm.

2. In a large nonstick pot, sauté onion in butter for 2-3 minutes or until tender.

3. Add the rice, cook and stir 2-3 minutes. Add the wine, cook and stir until all of the liquid is absorbed.

4. Stir in heated broth, a ladle at a time, stirring constantly. Allow the liquid to absorb between each addition.

5. Meanwhile, in a blender, add the peas with a splash of water and blend into a puree.

6. Cook until risotto is creamy and almost tender around 20 minutes. Add the sprigs of mint & the pureed peas. Cook until heated through.

7. Remove the mint sprigs.  Add Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

   Garnish with pea shoots or asparagus for an added bite.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Whether you like crispy, chewy, or cakey cookies, one should always have their go-to recipe!

Finding the RIGHT chocolate chip cookie recipe can take many tries, for me, from the time I began to bake about four years ago, I only now have found my perfect cookie recipe!

I used to follow the recipes on the back of the morsels chocolate chip bags, and while they are not bad, they certainly aren’t the best. But again, it all depends upon your taste in cookies!

My favorite type of cookie is crispy around the edges and chewy in the middle. After countless attempts, and many packages of butter later, I think I found the perfect cookie recipe.

It’s a salted browned butter chocolate chip cookie!

The browned butter gives these cookies a nutty and caramel flavor. For the chocolate, I only use 60% cacao. I find the semi-sweet too sweet.

Also, I ALWAYS chop my chocolate, even if they are chips. For this recipe, for example, I used Ghirardelli 60% bittersweet morsels and chopped them. Chopping the chocolate allows them to melt into the cookie evenly, giving you more chocolate per cookie and you won’t have whole unmelted chips in the cookies (the worst).

After you give these a try, Im sure they will become a go to!

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Ingredients 

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• ¾ teaspoon kosher salt

• 1 cup unsalted butter

• 1 cup dark brown sugar

• ⅓ cup granulated sugar

• 2 large eggs, room temperature

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1½ cups bittersweet  chocolate, chopped

• Flaky sea salt

Recipe

1. In a saucepan, melt the butter stirring the pan occasionally, allow the butter to foam, until it browns, about 5 -7 minutes. Pour into a bowl, and allow it to cool.

2. In an electric mixer, pour the browned butter into the mixer bowl with the two sugars. Beat them together until all combined.

3. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.

4. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Reduce speed, beat in the flour mixture until all combined.

5. Fold in the chopped chocolate.

6. Chill for at least a half hour, overnight preferably.

7. Preheat to 375 degrees.

8. Using a cookie scoop, scoop them onto a lined baking tray. Bake until edges are golden brown, around 10-12 minutes. 6 minutes in, or until they begin to puff up, bang the cookie tray and again when the cookies are done to create a crinkle effect.

9. Finish them with flaky sea salt.

   Recipe from Bon Appetit

Cranberry Orange Chocolate Tart

First Monday of December, and I am in full holiday baking mode!

I’m starting the month off with this festive cranberry curd tart, made with chocolate graham crackers and a cranberry curd with orange juice and zest and topped with sugared cranberries!

This showstopper tart is sour and sweet and a great quick dessert to make for any holiday party.

Cranberries tend to be just a Thanksgiving time kind of berries, but since they are so good for you, I am on a mission to try to use them all year round. Thinking about adding them to a nice pork roast or even to a grain bowl If you have any ideas, let me know, and we will try them together!

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Ingredients 

Crust

• 1 1/2 cups of graham crackers crumbs

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

• 6 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling

• 8 oz. fresh or frozen (thawed) cranberries, plus 4 oz. for topping

• 1 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/2 cup for topping

• 2 large eggs

• 1 large egg yolks

• 1 tsp. finely grated orange zest

• 1 tsp. finely grated lime zest, divided

• ¼ cup fresh orange juice

• Pinch of kosher salt

• 6 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces

Recipe

Chocolate Crust

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. In a food processor, pulse chocolate grahams until finely ground. Pour sugar and melted butter, pulse until mixture resembles wet sand.

3. Place mixture into tart pan and press evenly into the bottoms and sides of the pan. Blind bake the crust by placing a piece of parchment paper, or aluminum foil on top of the crust. Pour in pie weights, or dried beans.

4. Bake for 10-12 minutes

5. Carefully remove the parchment/aluminum foil with the weights, or beans, and allow to cool.

Filling

1. Bring 6 oz. cranberries, 1 cup granulated sugar, and ¼ cup water to a boil in a large saucepan over medium-high. Reduce heat; simmer until cranberries burst and most of the liquid evaporates, 12–15 minutes. Let cool.

2. Purée in a blender until very smooth.

3. Cook cranberry purée, egg, egg yolk, orange zest, orange juice, salt, sugar, and 1/2 tsp. lime zest in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water.

4. Stir with a rubber spatula and scrape down sides of bowl often, until curd thickens and coats spatula, around 10 minutes (might take a few minutes longer). Let cool until just warm.

5. Using an electric mixer ,or whisk, beat curd.

6. Add butter a piece at a time and incorporate after each addition until curd looks lighter in color and texture. Pass through a sieve, then scrape into crust and chill until firm, at least two hours 2 hours.

Cranberry Topping

1. Bring ½ cup granulated sugar and ½ cup water to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add 4 oz. cranberries and cook until barely starting to soften, about 1 minute.

2. Using a slotted spoon, transfer cranberries to a wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet. Chill until no longer sticky, 20–30 minutes.

3. Toss remaining ½ cup granulated sugar and 1/2 tsp. lime zest in a small bowl. Toss cranberries in lime sugar.

4. Top tart with cranberries as you like.