Full disclosure: This recipe isn’t mine. It was shared on the 10! Show on NBC Philadelphia last week by John Brandt-Lee, the chef/owner of my favorite restaurant Avalon in West Chester, PA (and now a 2nd outpost in Downingtown called Avalon Pasta Bistro that for some reason I haven’t yet tried).
Brandt-Lee, a fine and funny fella, makes somewhat regular appearances on the program and on this occassion he made this tasty-looking seasonal dish using pre-made ravioli sheets (I used circular pot sticker sheets) and fresh butternut squash.
Here’s the full butternut squash ravioli recipe. I didn’t change a thing about it, save for the type of pasta sheets and skipping the ameretti cookies. To speed up the drying process, I spread the cooked and scooped out-squash onto a cookie sheet and baked for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.
The Bear and the Mouse helped scoop out the squash seeds and mixed the ricotta and seasonings into the cooked, dried, and cooled squash.
Both girls loved the flavor and texture of the ravioli, as did I and I’m not the biggest butternut squash fan in the world. I ate 4 raviolis myself and could have eaten more. We froze the extras uncooked for an easy future dinner. Note: I had to go out and buy an extra pack of pot sticker sheets – this recipe makes a good amount of filling!
I’ve never before tried to take photos of the entire process of cooking a dish. It was hectic and the shots didn’t all come out as nice as I’d have liked. We were making homemade lentil soup at the same time, so that didn’t help my efforts! Also, a scratch-n-sniff app would have really come in handy for these! It was like Autumn had exploded in my kitchen – yum!
Total Servings for a family of 4: 2 hearty dinners.
Total cost: approximately $9 (I already had the cinnamon, nutmeg, eggs and butter).
*If you had to buy every single ingredient: approximately $16.
The process of filling and making fresh ravioli was so easy, I’m already dreaming of asparagus and shrimp ravioli and a myriad of other combinations! I don’t see myself ever buying frozen raviolis again.
