I got this recipe from an Essentials of Tuscany class I took a few weeks ago at the Institute of Culinary Education. It’s very delicious but includes two ingredients that probably aren’t sitting around your kitchen. The first rare ingredient is Mostarda di Frutta, an Italian condiment made of candied fruit and a mustard flavored syrup. The second is Amaretti di Saronno. These are the little amaretto cookies that come in the shiny red tin. I’m sure you’d know them if you saw them but don’t have a tin of them sitting in your pantry.
Since these ingredients aren’t the center of the dish and are only included in small quantities, I’ve modified the recipe. If you’ve got these guys sitting around your house, check out the notes, Fancypants, and make the recipe true to form!
- Pasta all’ Uovo (Egg Pasta)
- 5 cups butternut squash – seeded, peeled and cubed
- 2 green apples, finely diced
- 2 tablespoons Amaretto Liqueur
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
- 1 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
- Pinch of grated nutmeg
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 2 sprigs sage, coarsely chopped
- In a small bowl, combine the apples, amaretto liqueur, two teaspoons lemon juice and a large pinch of lemon zest. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
- Bake the squash in a pre-heated 400 degree oven for 30 minutes or until tender when a knife is inserted.
- Puree the squash, transfer to a large mixing bowl and cool.
- Once cool, drain the apple and add to the squash. Add the Parmesan cheese and nutmeg and combine. Refrigerate for one hour.
- Roll each piece of pasta dough through machine, stopping at the setting before the last.
- Place one sheet of pasta on a lightly floured surface. Place 1 teaspoon of filling on the sheet of pasta leaving 3 inches between each dollop.
- With a pastry brush, moisten the area surrounding the filling with a little water and place the second sheet of pasta on top. Press down around the mounds, making sure to remove any air pockets that may have formed, creating a tight seal.
- Cut into 2 inch ravioli using a ravioli wheel.
- Repeat with remaining pasta dough and filling.
- Heat salted water over high heat until boiling about 30 minutes before you are ready to serve.
- Cook in batches for about 3-5 minutes or until raviolis reach desired consistency.
- Remove from water and repeat with remaining batches.
- In a heavy saucepan, brown butter over medium-high heat swirling until turns golden brown and releases a nutty aroma.
- Put sage in a small mixing bowl and add the browned butter.
- Spoon over ravioli and serve.
Notes: If you have those rare ingredients and want to make this recipe true to form, you would omit the steps for apple maceration. Instead you would crush 1 ouncesof the Amaretti cookies into a fine powder. You would also mince 2 ounces of the Mostarda di Frutta and form a pasta using the side of the knife. Combine both of these ingredients to the cooled squash before adding the cheese and the nutmeg.
If you want to be really fancy, you can make Mostarda de Frutta from scratch using this recipe!
This recipe will also make more filling than pasta. So you can either make another batch of pasta and freeze the extra ones (allow them to freeze separately on a plate or baling sheet and then transfer them to a freezer bag). Or you can try something else like these Butternut Squash Empanadas.
What you’ll need: TIME! This recipe takes about 3 hours to make. All of that isn’t hands on time, but just make sure you plan accordingly. A large pot, 2 small mixing bowls, a large mixing bowl, a blender or food processor, a pastry brush, and a ravioli wheel.
What you want to know: The nutritional information for this recipe depends on various factors – how much pasta you use, how large you make the raviolis, etc. So I’m going to present it this way. If you eat 1/4 of this recipe with 1/4 of the brown butter sauce, you’ll consume 510 calories, 19 grams of fat, 5 grams of fiber, and 10 WW points. If you eat 1/5 of this recipe with 1/5 of the brown butter sauce, you’ll consume 440 calories, 16 grams of fat, 4 grams of fiber, and 9 WW points.
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