Thursday, October 14, 2010

Pumpkin Ravioli in Sage Brown Butter Sauce


It's autumn. YAY!!! 

Pumpkinpumpkinpumpkinpumpkinpumpkin...love pumpkins. So cute, so iconic of fall, and fairly tasty (though I'm not making anything pumpkin-related from scratch. That's crazy.).

I love this dish because it's EASY and redolent of fall flavors.  I bought the pumpkin ravioli from the store, make a 10-minute brown butter sauce with sage, and lightly braised some broccolini. 

For the brown butter sauce, the lemon zest makes all the difference.  I have made this sauce in the past without it, and it's quite rich. It's still a rich sauce, obviously, but the zest cuts into it a bit.

For the broccolini, I washed two bunches and peeled the stalks.


In a deep skillet or pot, heat a few TBS of olive oil over medium to medium high heat with a few smashed garlic cloves and a pinch of red pepper flakes.


When garlic becomes golden brown, throw in the broccolini and toss to coat with oil.  Pour in a few TBS of water (or stock), lower heat, cover pot, and cook for about 10 minutes, turning broccolini with tongs every once in a while.
  
Huh, that looks very much like the raw broccolini, doesn't it? Moving onto the ravioli...


Ingredients:
  • 1 pound pumpkin ravioli
  • 8 TBS unsalted butter (1 stick)
  • 1/3 cup thinly sliced fresh sage leaves
  • 1.5 to 2 tsp grated lemon zest
  • grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano
Place the butter in a skillet or pot over medium heat and cook, keeping an eye on it, until the little bit at the bottom (whatever they are) start to brown.  If you let it go too far, it will burn.




How brown you let  it get before the next step will depend on your cooking vessel.  I was cooking in an enameled cast-iron pot which retains heat super well, so I let the butter brown just a bit before moving on because I knew the sauce would continue to cook. 


Throw in the sage and lemon zest.







Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Remove sauce from heat and set aside.


Cook pasta according to directions, drain, and add to sauce.  Throw in about 1/3 cup of grated cheese.  Toss everything together.




Ta-da! I know, horrible horrible picture. It looked better in real life. I hope.

8 comments:

  1. Yum yum! I love pumpkin ravioli! Also delicious - butternut squash ravioli. A couple restaurants around here serve it and its SOOOO yummy! It's not as heavy as pumpkin, but a very similar flavor. Butternut squash and roasted chicken risotto from a place called Brio; that would be my last meal for sure! Nom nom nom! How does the broccolini taste compare to regular broccoli? I've always wondered, but it's hard to find broccolini around here, so I've never tried it! We steam our broccoli and sprinkle a little lemon pepper on top; so delish and no butter needed!

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  2. I must make this dish immediately. It looks freaking delicious!! I hope my store has pumpkin ravioli!

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  3. I LOVE the amount of butter in this dish. right on the heels of that meat-ful BBQ post -- your blog is going in a good direction.

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  4. Yuuum, I love brown butter sauce! Or just butter sauce. Ok fine, just butter.

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  5. how does pumpkin ravioli taste? looks yum and healthy with your dose of broccolini (well, i guess not so much w/the butter)

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  6. I've only had pumpkin ravioli once, but it was soooooo good! Can't wait to try out your recipe :)

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  7. Broccolini is a new fave of mine and your brown butter sauce sounds too easy to pass up.

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