Recipe: Roasted Butternut Squash Ravioli on Zuchini Ribbons with Sage Cream Sauce

Here's another wonderful pasta dish that is sure to impress.  Let's take it step by step:

Roasted Butternut Squash Ravioli


Squash Filling
1 organic butternut squash
2 leeks
1/2 C toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste


Take one organic butternut squash and cut it in half length-wise.  Lightly spray a cookie sheet with oil and place the halves open-side down on the sheet.  Cook at 400 degrees until soft and tender, probably 45 minutes to an hour.  Let cool.

Scoop out the squash leaving the skin behind.  Then mash the squash in a bowl with your hands or a potato masher.

Dice the white part of two leeks and water fry it in a pan until it carmelizes and browns.  Add it to the squash with the walnuts, salt and pepper and mix well.

Sage Creme Sauce
This is a basic soy milk creme sauce with sage.  For another take on the same creme sauce, check out my Garlic Thyme Gnocchi with Fennel Creme Sauce and Bok Choi Twists. 


1 medium size onion
1 rib of celery
1 medium-sized carrot
1 C non-dairy milk
1/2 C silken tofu
1/2 C water
1 T nutritional yeast
2 t miso (any kind will work)
1 teaspoon of sage
Salt and pepper to taste

Dice the onion, celery and carrot.  Water fry in a large sauce pan or small pot until brown, about 5 minutes.  This is your mirepoix.  

Add the non-dairy milk, tofu, water, nutritional yeast, miso and spices.  Blend with a hand-blender or pour mixture into a blender.  Blend until smooth.  Heat on medium-low until warm.

Note about the sage creme sauce: Remember to taste the sauce before you add the salt.  Miso is naturally very salty, so you should go easy on the added salt.  Also, if you want more sage taste in your sauce, add more sage.  If you are using fresh sage, you may need to add more to get the same taste from dried sage.

Ravioli Dough
If you have never made pasta before, it's easy.  Click here for Cooking Basics on Dough.

1.5 C Semolina flour
1.5 C Whole Wheat flour
1 C Water

Adjust flour or water as necessary to get a smooth, slightly tacky dough.  For a really smooth, pliable dough, make this the night before and let it rest in the fridge overnight until you are ready to use it.  You can make the dough up to three days in advance.

In a large stock pot, fill half way with water and put it on the stove on high to boil while you prepare the ravioli.

Roll the dough thin, to about 1/4 inch thickness.  As you make the raviolis for the first time, you'll see what is about the right thickness.  To cut the ravioli dough, you can use a biscuit cutter, a glass, a coffee mug, a ravioli roller, a cookie cutter, or anything you have on hand that will create circles or squares about 3-4" across.

Add a teaspoon of the squash filling to the middle of each round of ravioli dough.

Note: Be careful not to get filling on the edges or your ravioli may open when you boil it.

Using a small bowl of cold water, wet your finger and moisten the edges of the pasta round.  Then, fold the top of the round over the filling and seal it even with the bottom round.  You can use a fork to crimp the edges together.

Once you have made all the raviolis, drop them in the boiling water 8-10 at a time so they have room to spread out.  They will sink to the bottom and after a minute or two, they will float.  Once they float, give them another 30 seconds and take them out with a slotted spoon.

Zucchini Ribbons
These are very easy to do.  After washing your zucchini, use a zester or similar tool to scrape green strips off the zucchini and set aside.  Be artistic.  See the picture above.  This will be your garnish on top of the dish.

Then, with a peeler, shave the rest of the zucchini into thin ribbons.  Very lightly steam these until warm.  You can even do this in the microwave for 30 seconds.

Final Plating
Remember, presentation is a wonderfully creative part of gourmet cooking.  So feel free to get creative.

I placed a small pile of the zucchini ribbons on the plate.  Then, I stacked the ravioli around the ribbons and ladled the creme sauce on the ravioli.  I garnished with the fresh green zucchini strips.  You could also throw some fresh sage on with the zucchini strips to garnish.

Serves 4-6

Serve and enjoy!