Bruce Poole's Butternut squash ravioli with sage beurre noisette and Parmesan

Butternut squash ravioli with sage beurre noisette and Parmesan

Serves 4 as a starter or lunch main course

• 1 butternut squash
• olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 bunch of fresh thyme
• 1 large onion, peeled and very finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely minced
• 100g unsalted butter
• fresh nutmeg
• 200g freshly grated Parmesan
• 500g batch of fresh pasta dough (see page 88)
• flour, to dust
• 20–24 fresh sage leaves
• 1 lemon

Set the oven to 175ºC. Cut the squash in half lengthways. Scoop out and discard the pith and pips. Cut each half in two, rub olive oil over the flesh generously and season well with salt and pepper.

Roughly chop the thyme and scatter over the squash. Arrange the squash on a baking sheet, cut-sides uppermost, and roast in the oven until the vegetable has completely softened –40 minutes or so.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and set aside.

While the squash is roasting, sweat the onion and garlic in half the butter.

Cook this over a low heat until the onion has softened and taken on a slightly sweet flavour – 15 minutes or so should do it. Season the onion and place it in a sieve to drain off the fat. Set aside, discarding the drained fat.

When the butternut is cool enough to handle, using a spoon, scrape the flesh from the skin directly on to a large chopping board. Chop it finely and transfer the chopped flesh to a medium-sized pan. Place the pan over a low heat and cook the squash for 5 minutes or so, stirring all the while. This simply drives off any unwanted moisture, as the vegetable has a tendency to be a little watery.

Place the squash in a mixing bowl. Add the cooked, drained onion and garlic. Grate in some nutmeg, add half the grated Parmesan, mix well and taste.

Adjust the seasoning. This is the filling for the ravioli and it will be easier to assemble the parcels if this is well chilled – it can be made the day beforehand if liked.

To assemble the ravioli: roll out enough pasta to achieve four very thin sheets about 60 x 15cm (depending on the width of your machine) in length – you probably will not need quite all the pasta for this. The sheets should be as thin as possible.

Keeping three aside under a damp cloth, lay out one sheet in front of you on a lightly floured work surface. Have a moistened pastry brush at the ready. Place 5 teaspoons of the squash mixture along the centre of the sheet. Quickly run the pastry brush around the mixture all over the exposed pasta – the brush should not be soaking wet, but moistened only.

Lift the long edge of the pasta sheet over the mounds of mixture and seal the pasta along the edge and around the mixture. Do this by cupping your floured hands around the mounds of mixture – try to expel as much air as possible, although this is tricky so don’t get too bothered.

When the five mounds are well insulated and the pasta is well sealed, cut the sheet between the mounds to make five square ravioli.

Try to avoid overtrimming the pasta – remember, the pasta itself, and not just the filling, is delicious. I like big ravioli. Place them on a large sheetof greaseproof paper and continue with the other three sheets until you have twenty ravioli (or thereabouts). Keep the ravioli in the fridge until you need to cook them.

Have a large pan of boiling salted water and a slotted spoon ready with four plates warming in the oven. Place the sage leaves in a smallish pan together with the remaining butter. Season with salt and pepper and place the pan over a low heat so that the butter begins to melt slowly.

Cook the ravioli – they will need only 4–5 minutes, depending on the thickness of the pasta. When cooked, take out with a slotted spoon, season and place them on the warmed plates. Immediately turn up the heat under the sage pan and continue to cook the butter until it reaches a light nutty-brown colour– the aroma will also remind you of hazelnuts.

Add a few drops of lemon juice off the heat and allow the butter to seethe. Spoon the cooked butter and crisp sage over the ravioli. Sprinkle the remaining grated Parmesan over and serve.

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