Holy Smokes I Actually Made Pasta

With my bare hands, because I don't currently have one of those fancy pasta roller attachments for Black Betty. Who is Black Betty, you might ask? Well, besides being this really awesome song, Black Betty happens to be the hardest working member of the Geeky family and the source of ongoing joke between Geeky Dude and myself.  Whenever she is mentioned,the conversation always ends in each of us racing to say "Bam-Ba-Lam!" Oh yes, we're that couple.

Black Betty does love her accessories, however not as much as Geeky Girl loves her shoes, so therefore she remains pasta roller attachment-less. I'm a bad Kitchen Aid mother. As a punishment, I get to roll out my own pasta dough, which honestly folks, and pardon my French here, is a real pain in the arse. 

But, you didn't come here to read about my amazing shoe collection addiction..... so, without further adieu, please enjoy this AMAZING recipe for ravioli! It's seriously going to rock your socks off.

Pumpkin Ravioli in a Rosemary and Thyme Brown Butter Sauce

Pasta Dough

5 eggs

1 tablespoon of salt

1 tablespoon of olive oil 

3 cups of all-purpose flour

Simple Pumpkin Filling

1 can of pumpkin
1 cup of Pecorino {or Ricotta which is what I used}
2 Teaspoons of Nutmeg
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon of Rubbed Sage
1 Teaspoon Thyme
1 dash of salt and pepper

Rosemary and Thyme Brown Butter Sauce


4 Tablespoons of butter
Rosemary 
Thyme 

In a small bowl, beat the eggs, salt and olive oil. In a large bowl, place the flour and pour in the egg mixture. Stir with a fork and fold together until all of the egg mixture is absorbed and the dough forms into a sticky ball.  Flour your hands and divide the dough into 3 separate ones. Knead each dough a bit to form it into a ball. Cover each in cellophane and refrigerate for a few hours.

While the pasta dough is chilling, prepare you pumpkin filling by thoroughly mixing together all ingredients. Set aside.

Roll out the ball of dough as flat/thin as you can get it. I cut mine into circles using a cookie cutter but you could do squares as well with a knife or ravioli cutter. 

After you've cut the dough into whatever shape you choose, roll each ravioli a little bit before scooping on a small dollop of pumpkin mixture. Place another square or circle (depending on what shape you chose) on top, and using a fork, press the two pieces of dough together at the edges, which creates a pretty border.

Once you've assembling your masterpieces, place them in a pot of well salted boiling water until they rise to the top. About 3-4 minutes....or 10-15 if you didn't roll out your dough thin enough. Drain them (carefully!) in a colander.

Melt 4 tablespoons of butter. Just before it starts to brown, add fresh rosemary and thyme leaves, stirring until the butter slightly browns. Pour over raviolis, admire your homemade works of  art, and then devour.

**Notes and Alterations** Holy smokes, I was worried about this recipe because I tried a ravioli before putting on the sauce and honestly it wasn't super. It kind of tasted like pumpkin pie got confused and lost inside a ravioli shell....but then, then we made this amazing savory browned butter and oh my holy browned buttery goodness. I will most definitely make this again....sadly probably this week because that easy pumpkin filling makes twice what is needed for what the pasta dough makes for ravioli shells and Geeky Dude pretty much inhaled it.  

Next time, I'd like to use fresh squash, butternut would be amazing. I didn't have fresh herbs because it's winter (okay technically Spring now, but there is still several feet of snow on the ground and my herbs are not happy and growing outside yet) so I used dried herbs. I can't even begin to imagine how much more amazing this would be with fresh rosemary and thyme browned butter.