BAM.

My Mom wanted to do something slightly different for the holidays this year. Instead of a huge hunk of meat like a roast or ham or something for Christmas Eve dinner, she wanted to do a bunch of smaller plates in courses.

I’m almost positive that my loving mother chose this style of meal because it forces people to sit around the table and actually talk for a longer period of time.

Luckily, I like talking and eating and cooking, so I was happy to help her plan the feast.

We settled on Italian food because it’s pretty normal for that to be served in courses. Most of the courses were very straightforward and pretty simple to make, but I was particularly proud of the pasta course. I made some delicious homemade squash ravioli that turned out better than I was expecting.

I’m far from a ravioli expert and only a quarter Italian, but after making these I feel at least a third Italian.

Winter Squash Ravioli

Yield: Serves 4 as a meal.

Prep Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 2 hours

Ingredients:

Homemade Pasta:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
A pinch of salt

Filling:
1 butternut squash, roasted (~4 cups of squash)
2 shallots (about 1/3 of a cup), diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of salt and pepper

Sage Butter Sauce:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons fresh sage (about 5 leaves), minced
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons pasta water

Helpful Equipment:
Pasta Maker (or KitchenAid attachment)
Ravioli cutter

Directions:

To make Pasta:
1) Mix salt and flour and make a well on a clean counter.

2) Whisk together eggs and yolks and add them to the well.

3) Use a fork to slowly incorporate the flour with the eggs. The goal is to add just enough flour to pull the dough together. Ideally, you'll end up with a ball of dough in the middle of a well of flour as you won't need all the flour to finish the dough.

4) Knead the dough gently for a few minutes, adding more flour if it's sticky or loose. Then let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

5) Continue kneading the dough for a another 5 minutes or so, incorporating more flour as needed.

6) Wrap the dough tightly in plastic and let it rest for an hour.

To Make Filling:

1) Roast squash in a 350 degree oven for about an hour until they are fork tender.

2) In a large pan, add olive oil and cook diced shallots over medium heat. When shallots are soft, add in squash flesh. It should be very soft.

3) Cook the filling for a few minutes, mashing the squash together with the shallots.

4) Add cream, cheese, and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper.

5) Let filling cool before filling ravioli.

Making Ravioli:
1) Cut pasta dough into quarters and work with one quarter at a time. Pass dough through pasta maker a few times on widest setting, making sure to flour it well.

2) Crank down pasta roller and keep passing through dough until it's on the second to thinnest setting (normally 7).

3) If you have a long counter, spread the pasta sheet out and flour it heavily on the bottom so it doesn't stick to the counter. I cut my sheet in half to make it easier to work with.

4) Add a large teaspoon of squash filling spaced about an inch a part on the lower 1/3 of the pasta sheet. You should get 12-14 for a full sheet of pasta.

5) Use a roller cutter to cut up the ravioli into individual pieces.

6) Working with one ravioli at a time, dip your finger in water and run it around the edges of the ravioli filling. Then fold the dough over and press out all the air. Press down to seal the edges. Repeat with all the raviolis.

7) Use a decorative ravioli cutter to cut around the edges of each ravioli. This will help seal them completely and also make them pretty.

8) Toss ravioli on a baking sheet with some flour. Repeat with all the pasta dough.

9) Before cooking ravioli, freeze them for a few minutes so they firm up.

10) Cook ravioli in salted, boiling water for about 3-4 minutes. When they all float, they are done.

For Butter Sauce:
1) When you put your ravioli in to cook, start sauce. Add butter and herbs to a small saucepan. Melt over medium heat.

2) When butter is just starting to brown slightly, add a few spoonfuls of pasta water which will thicken the sauce a bit. Swirl it around to mix the water and butter.

3) Drain raviolis and add to plate.

4) Drizzle butter sauce over ravioli and serve with extra cheese.

Making the Filling

I kept this filling pretty simple and while I used butternut squash for it, I think you could use almost any winter squash. You want about 4 cups of roasted squash so that might mean you need to roast more than one squash if you’re using a smaller one.

One large butternut squash is plenty though.

Pretty straightforward

Roast this bad boy for about an hour at 350 degrees until it’s very tender.

In a medium pot, add the olive oil and shallots and cook for a minute or two over medium heat. Then add in the roasted squash flesh and mash everything together. It’s okay if there are some lumps.

Stir in the cream, cheese, nutmeg, and salt and pepper and your filling is done!

Be sure to let this cool completely before filling your ravioli.

A bit chunky is fine.

Making The Pasta

My pasta making has come a long way. If you go way back to my first attempt at making pasta, you’ll notice that I had no freakin’ idea what I was doing.

I still only have a vague idea as to what I’m doing, but it seems to work for me these days so I’m just letting it happen.

Basically, I just mix together my flour and salt and then make a big well on the counter. Then I pour in my eggs which I’ve lightly beaten (upper right).

Next, I use a fork to just slowly incorporate flour into the egg mixture. After a few minutes of this, the eggs will form a loose dough. Then you can start gently kneading it (bottom left).

As you knead it, the dough will get sticky and you’ll want to work in more flour which is convenient because you will be kneading the dough in a big pile of flour.

After maybe 8 minutes of kneading, you’ll have a nice firm ball of dough and probably plenty of flour left over, which is fine (bottom right).

Once your dough is made, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and let it rest for about an hour (conveniently the time it takes to make the filling).

Now you can make some pasta!

Making pasta is pretty straightforward assuming you have a decent pasta roller. Work with a quarter of your dough at a time just to make it easier.

Feed it through the pasta roller a few times on the widest setting and then start cranking it down until it gets to the second-to-smallest setting (normally 7).

The key to making pasta that I’ve found is to really flour it up. It’s pretty hard to use too much flour because extra flour will just fall off.

This is some pretty perfect looking pasta if you ask me.

Artsy pasta shot.

Making the Ravioli

Assuming you have a long counter, you can just stretch the finished pasta sheet out in one long piece. I cut my pasta sheet in half though just to make it easier to work with.

Again, use a lot of flour on the bottom of the sheet so it doesn’t stick as you make the ravioli.

Then just dollop out large teaspoon sized lumps of filling on the pasta sheet. Make sure that you leave about an inch between the ravioli and also put the filling in the bottom third of the ravioli since we are going to fold them over.

A good teaspoon will help.

At this point, use a ravioli cutter to slice up the ravioli into individual pieces. It’s actually important to slice them before you seal them I’ve found because it lets you get a better seal on each ravioli.

Then, work with one ravioli at a time. Dip your fingers in some water and wet around the filling. Then fold the pasta over and seal it up! Try to press out as much air from the filling as possible.

These are looking really good.

Lookin' good.

Then take your ravioli cutter and run it around the edge of each ravioli. This will make the ravioli pretty, but will also make it really sealed well.

This is an optional step, but I think it helps.

The Important Part

The important part about making ravioli (I think) is to not freak out about them. Unless you’re working in a professional kitchen and people are paying $20 to eat 6 of your ravioli, they don’t need to be perfect.

They won’t be perfect. As long as they are sealed though, they will cook fine and still be delicious.

I graded myself on my first batch of ravioli. Even my “F” ravioli tasted delicious.

By the way, it is important to toss them in flour as you finish them just to make sure they don’t stick.

 A Quick Salad

A quick interlude on the ravioli thing. I just wanted to show you guys this delicious spinach salad that we served before the ravioli. Super simple ingredients: spinach, goat cheese, pomegranate seeds, and toasted walnuts. I also whisked together a quick apple cider vinaigrette that we served with this that was just out of this world.

No big deal.

Back to Ravioli

Once your ravioli are made, you can either cook them now or freeze them for later. Even if you are cooking them now, I recommend freezing them for a few minutes just to firm them up a bit.

When you are ready to cook the ravioli, just toss them in salted boiling water for about 3-4 minutes. When all the ravioli are floating, they are done.

Meanwhile you can work on the sauce which is just a few ingredients: butter, sage, red pepper flakes.

Hard to go wrong here...

As the ravioli cook, melt the butter down over medium heat and swirl all these ingredients together. I like to add in a few spoonfuls of the pasta water also which thickens the sauce a bit.

Drain the ravioli well, put a few on a plate, and drizzle the butter sauce over the top.

This is about as good as it gets if you ask me.

CHOMP!

People are intimidated by ravioli and I get that. They seem complicated. You have to make the dough, fill each individual thing, seal them up, and worry about presentation.

It’s a lot, but the key thing to remember is that they don’t have to be perfect. Once your guests try that first bite, they won’t care what they look like.

They will be delicious.

The other nice thing about ravioli is that you can make them way in advance. In fact, when I made these for our Christmas Eve feast, I made them the day before and just froze them until I needed them.

Are you a homemade ravioli fan? Have you ever made it yourself? Leave a comment!

This is good food.

Betsy and I leave for Italy in about two weeks for our delayed honeymoon and I’m shaking with excitement. I have just a few things I need to take care of before we leave including:

1) Getting an international driver’s license (we are renting a car for a few days)

2) Learning some basic Italian phrases like, “Can I please have some more of the MEAT?”

3) Growing a beard.

A few weeks ago I hosted a pasta night (kind of like Taco Night except with, well, pasta). This gave me a small, and probably worse, taste of what I expect to have a lot of in Italy. I had some people over and made a few batches of fresh pasta and simmered an all-day ragu. There’s not much that beats homemade pasta and a big pot of really good meat sauce.

Pork Ragu

Yield: Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

2.5 pounds boneless pork butt
8 ounces bacon or pancetta
1 large carrot, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 28 ounce can stewed tomatoes
2 Cups water
1 cup white wine (you could use red, but I used white for this and really liked it)
2 bay leaves
1 Teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
1/4 Teaspoon cinnamon (trust me)
Salt and pepper

Basic Pasta Recipe (From How to Cook Everything)

2 Cups flour (all-purpose flour, Semolina flour, etc.)
3 large egg yolks
2 large eggs
1/2 Teaspoon salt (or 1 Teaspoon kosher salt)

Helpful Equipment:
Pasta Maker (Attachment or the stand-alone variety)

Directions:

1) Cut pork butt into 1 inch cubes and trim off fat if you want (I leave it on)

2) In a large heavy pot, brown the pork pieces over high heat for a few minutes a side. Work in batches to make sure the pot stays hot and the meat browns nicely. Remove the pork pieces and set aside.

3) Add chopped bacon or pancetta to pork drippings and cook over medium-high heat until browned.

4) Add veggies and garlic and cook until soft, about 3 minutes.

5) Deglaze the pan with wine (I used white wine) and scrape up any pieces stuck to the bottom.

6) Add pork pieces back to along with tomatoes (if you get whole tomatoes, mush them up when you add them), water, and spices. The liquid should barely cover the pork.

7) Bring to a simmer and simmer, covered, for 3 hours.

8) Remove the lid and simmer for another 60-90 minutes.

9) Test a piece of pork to make sure it's extremely tender. If it is, use a fork or wooden spoon to roughly shred the pork in the pot. If it isn't tender enough to easily shred, cook for another 30 minutes.

10) Once it has reduced down to a thick sauce, add cooked pasta and taste for salt and pepper.

11) Stir together and serve immediately with crusty bread and parmesan cheese.

The Ragu

I don’t make a lot of slow-cooked meat sauces here on Macheesmo but sometimes there’s nothing better. The thing that I don’t normally do is just toss a bunch of ground meat in with tomato sauce and call it good. We can do better.

So much better.

This is one of those recipes of love that requires a bit of time but is very flexible ingredient-wise and very low maintenance actually.

Start with a boneless pork butt and chop it into about 1 inch chunks. I like leaving on most of the fat because it melts down as it simmer and makes the sauce really flavorful. You could trim it off though if it bothers you.

You could trim off some of that fat... but WHY?

Get a large heavy pot (cast iron works great if you have one but you can use anything really) going over high heat and once it’s hot, add your pork pieces in batches. Brown them evenly on each side. Don’t be afraid if a little smoke happens.

This is probably the most important part of the recipe. Making sure all the pork is nice and browned is pretty key. As the pieces brown, pull them out onto a plate until they are all done.

The start of something wonderful.

This is important because the meat caramelizes a bit but also because you end up with what some people consider garbage but I consider to be liquid deliciousness.

Liquid flavor.

You would have to be insane to throw this stuff away.

Instead what you want to do is add some bacon to it and let it brown over medium-high heat and then add the carrots, onions, celery, and garlic and a pinch of salt.

This will start to smell really really good.

Bacon and veggies...

Once the veggies are soft, add the wine and it will hiss and steam. Use the wine to scrape up any little bits of food stuck to the bottom.

Then add all your pork pieces back into the pot along with the stewed tomatoes, water, and spices.

Simmer this, covered, for about 3 hours.

We’re not done.

Then simmer it for about 2 more hours with the lid off to get the liquid reducing.

Next, take out a piece of pork and try to pull it apart. If it doesn’t fall apart then cook it longer. It’s almost impossible to overcook this so don’t worry about that. Once the pork is tender just kind of mush up the pieces so they shred apart some.

This was mine after about 3 hours of simmering covered.

Slow food is good food.

So basically what I’m telling you is that if you want to eat at 7PM you should probably be cutting up your pork and chopping your vegetables at 1PM. That might sound insane, but it’s mostly unattended simmering, and trust me the results are worth the mild disturbance of having to start a dish 6 hours before you can eat it.

The Pasta

I always get very nervous when I write about homemade pasta because, frankly, I’m not very good at it and mostly just wing it.

But, honestly, it always tastes good. So I figure I must be doing something right even if it isn’t the prettiest thing in the world.

On this night, some of my guests wanted to learn how to make pasta from scratch so I did my best to show them how to make a well with the flour and crack in the eggs…

The pasta well!

And then I showed them how you get impatient and the eggs flow all over the table and you end up with a huge mess.

Then I showed them how to curse and push flour and eggs around on my counter until eventually you end up with this very hard ball of dough that you knead for 10 minutes or so.

Semolina is hard work.

The nice thing about pasta is that there’s a pretty way to do it and a messy way to do it and both, as far as I can tell, result in the same finished product which takes off some of the stress of the situation.

Anyway, after you knead the dough for about 10 minutes or so (it’ll be really hard especially if you’re using semolina), wrap the dough in plastic wrap so it doesn’t dry out and let it sit for an hour or so to relax a bit.

Then bust out the pasta roller (or roll it by hand if you really want a workout like I did in my first homemade pasta post which by the way has some excellent photos of the pasta making mess).

When you’re ready to make the pasta, follow the directions for your pasta machine. This will probably involve putting it through a few times on the widest setting and then once you have a smooth sheet you can start going down a step at a time.

The good thing about dinner guests is you can put them to work while you take a photo.

This isn't so bad...

Once you have a sheet, you can cut it into linguine or mix some ricotta with lemon zest and fresh lemon juice for an excellent ravioli filling.

I used 1 pound of ricotta with the zest and juice from 2 lemons along with a pinch of salt and it was really perfect.

Not bad.

My ravioli forming process is okay, but not perfectly. Mine tasted really good but they were a bit large I think.

I don’t have one of the ravioli shaper things so I just used my hands and a knife to seal them off with some water around the edges and cut them into squares.

Once they were shaped, I simmered them in salted water for a few minutes until they floated and then tossed them with some melted butter and sage.

They were very delicious even if they weren’t the prettiest thing in the world.

some butter helps.

I used my all-purpose flour pasta for the ravioli and the semolina flour batch I made for the pork ragu.

I just sliced up all the pasta I made into ribbons, boiled it in salted water and then transferred it right away to my pork ragu pot which has reduced substantially.

A quick stir and it was ready to serve.

Finished ragu.

I of course served it with some good Parmesan cheese and my roasted garlic bread from yesterday.

It was some of the best pasta I’ve had but I doubt that lasts for even a month given my upcoming travel schedule.

I decided to break one of my rules for this meal (don’t combine two things that you’re doing for the first time in any given recipe), and make a filling with the chestnuts for a ravioli. The chestnuts weren’t too terrible to prepare, but I think I need to work on my ravioli technique a bit. They were very tasty, but not the prettiest thing on the block.

No need for sauces! Well... except butter.

One killer about this recipe is that I don’t have a pasta roller which would make the whole thing easier, but there is something fun about making it by hand. I am no Italian grandmother though so mine just look a bit more, um, rustic.

Chestnut Ravioli

Yield: Serves 4-6.

Prep Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients:

Pasta: (From How to Cook Everything)
3 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour (you probably won't use all of it)
2 eggs
3 egg yolks
1 Teaspoon salt

Filling:
1 pound chestnuts (about 20)
8 ounces Mascarpone
Very tiny pinch of cinnamon
Pinch of salt

1 egg for egg wash (plus a Tablespoon of water)
4 Tablespoons butter for brown butter sauce

Helpful Equipment:
Pasta roller
Ravioli Mold

Directions:

1) For pasta, in a bowl, beat eggs and egg yolks together and then add salt. Then, on a clean surface, add 3-4 cups of flour and make a large well in the middle. Then pour egg mixture right in the middle.

2) Using a fork (or your fingers), gently stir the egg mixture around – slowly incorporate more flour into the mixture. Don’t worry if there are some lumps.

3) Work it with your hands, kneading it, for about 10 minutes. If it starts to get really sticky at any point, just add a bit more flour from your outer ring. You most likely will not use all the flour.

4) Once you have a smooth dough, wrap in plastic wrap and let it rest for at least an hour in the fridge. You can make it 24 hours in advance without a problem.

5) For filling, heat your oven to 350 degrees.

6) Using a paring knife, make a small X on the flat side of each chestnut. Lay out all the chestnuts on a baking sheet as you work.

7) Roast the chestnuts for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

8) While chestnuts are warm, peel them. To keep the chestnuts warm while you peel them, leave batches in the oven at 200 degrees and pull out as needed. For those that don’t peel easily, treat them like a clove of garlic. Chop them in half and then give them a good smash with the side of the knife!

9) Add the peeled chestnuts to a bowl and mush them up a bit with a fork. Then add mascarpone cheese and the pinch of cinnamon and salt.

10) To make ravioli, cut dough ball into quarters. You should end up getting about 7 or 8 large ravioli from each quarter of dough. Then take each quarter and roll it out. Keep the dough well-floured so it doesn’t stick. If you want it to look nice, you can trim the edges of the dough with a knife so the edges are straight.

11) Place about a Tablespoon of filling on the right side of the dough. Leave about 1/2 inch in between each ball of filling.

12) Brush egg wash on all the edges and in between each filling piece. So basically there should be a square of egg wash around each ball of filling. Then fold the left half of dough over the right side and press down between each piece of ravioli. The key is to make sure you don’t have any air bubbles in each ravioli as those might cause your ravioli to explode while it’s boiling.

13) Use a knife to slice up your raviolis. If you have a ravioli mold, go around each piece to seal.

14) Get a large pot of salted water going. Once it’s boiling (gentle boil not rolling boil) toss in your ravioli. When they float, they’re done! It should only take a few minutes.

15) Melt some butter in a large pan and just when it was starting to brown, I tossed in my ravioli to coat them in the lovely brown butter sauce.

Making the Pasta Dough

I think the well method is the best for making pasta. In a bowl, beat your eggs and egg yolks together and then add your salt. Then, on a clean surface, add 3-4 cups of flour and make a large well in the middle. Then pour your egg mixture right in the middle.

Making a well.

Next, using a fork (or your fingers), gently stir the egg mixture around – slowly incorporate more flour into the mixture. Don’t worry if there are some lumps.

Use a fork to make this happen.

Eventually, you should end up with a fairly stiff dough that isn’t sticky, but isn’t dry at all. Then start working it with your hands, kneading it, for about 10 minutes. If it starts to get really sticky at any point, just add a bit more flour from your outer ring. You most likely will not use all the flour. This was my final product.

Don't rush this people.

Wrap that in plastic wrap and let it rest for at least an hour in the fridge. You can make it 24 hours in advance without a problem.

Making the filling

The first step in making the filling is to roast the chestnuts. You can roast as many as you want, they are great just to snack on. You’ll probably only need about 20-25 for the recipe though. To roast the chestnuts, heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Then, using a paring knife, make a small X on the flat side of each chestnut. Be very careful when doing this. The chestnut is kind of hard and it’s also kind of slippery. Those two factors can lead to massive wounds!

Just work slowly and you’ll get the hand of it.

Careful!

Lay out all the chestnuts on a baking sheet as you work. It took me maybe 5 or 10 minutes to get all these done once I got the hang of it.

Ready for the oven!

Roast the chestnuts for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees. They should kind of bloom open. I’ve heard that you can also boil the chestnuts to remove the skins so that might be easier for you.

The trick to peeling

As the chestnuts cool, they kind of harden which makes them much harder to peel. So you want to peel the shell of each one while it is relatively warm. The way I did this was to turn my oven down to about 200 degrees just to keep them warm and then I worked in batches – pulling out 3 or 4 chestnuts at a time to peel.

In an ideal world, you should be able to easily pop the nut part out through the whole where the X was. If it pops out perfectly, it’ll look like this!

Ideal.

But a good number of them don’t pop out nicely. For these, I treated them like a clove of garlic. Chop them in half and then give them a good smash with the side of the knife!

It’s not as pretty, but it works.

Messy.

Once all your chestnuts are peeled, the filling is super easy to put together. Just add them all to a bowl and mush them up a bit with a fork. Then add your mascarpone cheese and the pinch of cinnamon and salt.

This was a really tasty filling.

Mixed with the mascarpone.

Making the Ravioli

This is where it got a bit dicey for me, but for my first try I was pretty happy with the result.

First, cut your dough ball into quarters. You should end up getting about 7 or 8 large ravioli from each quarter of dough.

After an hour of resting.

Then take each quarter and roll it out. Keep the dough well-floured so it doesn’t stick. I was able to get my about 20 inches long by 6 inches wide. If you want it to look nice, you can trim the edges of the dough with a knife so the edges are straight.

Then place about a Tablespoon of filling on the right side of the dough. Leave about 1/2 inch in between each ball of filling.

I made some large ravioli.

Then brush your egg wash on all the edges and in between each filling piece. So basically there should be a square of egg wash around each ball of filling. Then just fold the left half of dough over the right side and press down between each piece of ravioli. The key is to make sure you don’t have any air bubbles in each ravioli as those might cause your ravioli to explode while it’s boiling.

As far as cutting goes, just use a knife to slice up your raviolis! If you have a ravioli mold, that will make sure that all your edges are pressed together well, otherwise, it’s worth it to go around each piece after you cut them. A leak around the edge of your ravioli will not end well. I lost one little guy because of this.

Not going to lie. This took me a while. It probably took me 30 minutes to make all the ravioli. It would’ve been a lot faster if I had a pasta roller. I also think I’ll be better at it my second time around. But I was pretty happy with the end result.

This is actually a lot of food.

Cooking the Ravioli

If you want to store these ravioli, they freeze really nicely. Just wrap them in plastic wrap and then store them in an airtight plastic bag. They’ll keep for awhile in there without a problem.

If you want to cook them right away (and you will), just get a large pot of salted water going. Once it’s boiling (gentle boil not rolling boil) toss in your ravioli. When they float, they’re done! It should only take a few minutes.

As far as sauce goes, simple is best. I just melted some butter in a large pan and just when it was starting to brown, I tossed in my ravioli to coat them in the lovely brown butter sauce. That’s all the sauce you need.

A bite of heaven.

I loved this meal and it actually turned out pretty successful even though I was working with two new things. I think the ravioli could have been a bit more evenly shaped, but that’s okay. They still tasted fantastic!

Would I make these again? Any day of the week. But seriously. I’m buying a pasta roller.