Butternut Squash Ravioli and Scenes from our Annual Ravioli Making Day

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Each year we get together as a family and spend one whole day making homemade ravioli, I’ve written about it before and shared pictures of past years on my blog.

Before our day gets off and running we assemble all our tools. This year along with our ravioli we were also going to making cappelletti as well.
What are cappelletti? They look like little baby tortellini, tiny “little hats” of pasta each one stuffed with a savory filling, something I haven’t ever made myself but had the privilege to learn this year by way of a master, my daughter-in-law’s nana who was in for a visit.

I’m devoting my next post to our cappelletti making so for now, back to the ravioli!

The first thing we always do is to make all the dough at once before we get to rolling it out, it’s always done in a food processor, fast and easy! Then we wrap each ball up and let them all rest for awhile before we begin.

We always make meat filled ravioli and the meat filling is always prepared in advance, this is Nana Lena’s special recipe and all I can say is that it’s fantastic!! It’s a mixture of 3 different meats, cheese’s, spices and herbs all of which have been passed through a meat grinder.
Along with the meat ravioli we also make cheese filled and I’m in charge of the filling for that. This year I got adventurous and also made a butternut squash filling for us to try.

Even the kids get involved, my two gorgeous granddaughters are here helping out.

Everyone usually settles into their own specific jobs and the ones that they’re most comfortable doing.

We ended up making around 400 ravioli
that day along with 800 cappelletti, yes you heard me right, 800! Of course with all that hard work going on all day we had to nourish ourselves, so pizza’s and salads were ordered for lunch along with some decadent cupcakes for dessert!

Here’s the filling I made for the butternut squash ravioli, a mixture of roasted squash, buttery sauteed shallots, a touch of cream and lots of grated parmesan cheese all blended until smooth in a food processor which I did the day before and then placed in a piping bags. Piping the fillings out result in a very efficient, neat and all in all a much faster way of getting it all done.

When completed all the ravioli are placed single layer on sheet pans and then placed in the freezer until frozen, then eventually they go into freezer bags.
I recently took out a bag of the butternut squash ravioli to have for our dinner, I couldn’t wait to see how they turned out!

They held together perfectly as they were boiling in the water, I love when they don’t break open and not one of them did!

While they were boiling I made a quick brown butter and sage sauce, I just love the smell it brings into the kitchen.

I drizzled the sauce all over my cooked ravioli and then added more parmesan cheese.

It’s hard to describe just how good this was but I’ll try, cheesy, buttery, slightly sweet and creamy texture of the filling, nutty, earthy, decadent flavor of the sauce, and the fresh pasta? well what can I say, there’s nothing like fresh pasta!
If you haven’t ever tackled making fresh pasta why not give it a try, it’s so perfect for the holidays!
Buon Appetito!

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Comments

  1. Your Pizza and your Ravioli (here in Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna we call them “Tortelli”) looks soooo italian. You definetely must had great teachers. My very true congratulations, it’s emotional somebody in the world keep our flag high with all this class and ability. You’re so professional that it seems like you have a restaurant business, isn’t it? Which part of Italy your relatives were from?

  2. I wish I lived closer, I would join you and family for cooking and dining. Sounds like fun, I love get togethers.
    HAPPY NEW YEAR, FRIEND. BEST OF HEALTH.

    ROSALIND LoBuono.

  3. thank you so much for this great recipe my mouth is watering i must do that pasta

  4. What a great tradition! Brown butter and sage sauce… sounds delightful!

  5. Mariana, email me at prouditaliancook@hotmail.com, I’ll send you the recipe for the dough.

  6. Hi!!!! Do you think you could share the recipe of the dough??????? PLLEEEEEEEASEEEEEEEE 🙂

  7. My mouth is watering for your ravioli.

  8. I am too jealous of all your productivity and fun!

  9. These looks DELICIOUS! And it also seems a great way to spend time with the family.

    Share the recipe!!!!!!!! 🙂 Pretty please!

  10. Just beautiful!! Wish I could make these like you do as they are one of my favorite foods!! Thanks so much for sharing.
    Kathleen

  11. I love that you have an annual ravioli making day. It sounds like so much fun!

  12. Homemade pasta makes all the difference. I’ve been wanting to make butternut squash ravioli but first I need to talk my husband into eating them.

  13. Wow, Marie – I’ve never seen so much pasta dough at once! That looks like a ball. What a great tradition.

  14. Wow! What fun cooking! An event I would like to join. The best way to pass traditional recipes to family. Admirable Italian way of life! Thanks for sharing!

  15. I love everything about this post – of course your food is first rate and just the kind of Italian home-cooking I love. But it’s the family involvement that really gets me. Keep on making those memories.

  16. Will you adopt me? I wanna play!
    How I would love to taste homemade ravioli. It has lots of love in it.

  17. I would love to have been at this ravioli-making party! The butternut ones look and sound delicious. How long does your share typically last, Marie?

  18. Oh my goodness, Marie! Lavish, gorgeous, and absolutely mouth-watering! What an amazing venture with everyone helping to make those beautiful ravioli. The photos bring it all to life!

  19. absolutely,,very nice blog,,thanks

  20. I wish I was a member of your family! Love your traditions……and the food….heaven 🙂

  21. Oh, how I wish I could join your ravioli making party some day.
    Labor of Love!

  22. Beautiful food, beautiful people and a beautiful ritual and legacy to your children. Merry Christmas and many blessings on you and your family.

  23. oh brown butter. divine. Ever since I discovered its flavor, I have sought out recipes that feature it. This seems to fit the bill quite nicely, thank you!

  24. This is a wonderful post – it warms my heart to see the tradition is being passed down to your lovely granddaughters!! I have fond memories of our family making raviolis when I was a child – every surface in the kitchen would be covered!!!

    🙂
    ButterYum

  25. It is beautiful to see yu passing on the cooking legacy to your children and grandchildren.
    The fruits of your labor looks divine!!

  26. This looks wonderful! I’d rather do this than Christmas Cookies!

  27. Just a little sage green that you do an actual ravioli-making day! The photos just speak happiness. The squash recipe say, “come and get me” and so I shall. I feel all warm and content after reading the post!

  28. Keep on posting these cooking memories and it’s so wonderful to see the kids involved in the preparations/cooking too!

  29. My lord that is a TON of ravioli! I made 40 ravioli the other day and was exhausted by the end of it. Major kudos to you. These look perfect!

  30. I was absolutely drooling when I was reading this…they look absolutely yummy. I haven’t tried making my own past yet but I’ve got some time off at Christmas and my foodie children will be home for college so I think we will give it a try!

  31. What an awesome idea!! Looks divine:)

  32. To die for! Wonderful.

  33. Buon appetito to you…you made a great job..I have always to prepare home made pasta by myself!!! Ciao, Flavia

  34. it does not get any better than this – I am going on almost 30 years of making my own pastas – I traveled around europe with a back pack and a eurail pass when I was 20 (turned 21 in Paris) and when I got back the first thing I did was invest in a pasta machine – I still have the same one to this day!

  35. We did a butternut squash just a few weeks ago, and it seemed way too sweet. Would love your recipe! (please) 😉

  36. Oh my! Everything looks so yummy!

  37. This looks fantastic – would love to try making fresh pasta one day – maybe now I will!

  38. What a great way to get everyone together! Everything looks delicious.

  39. This looks absolutely wonderful! I have never made my own ravioli, but I have a ravioli mold like the one in your first picture and I’ve just never gotten around to trying. I would LOVE to have a big ravioli making day at my house!

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