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Lidia Bastianich says the traditional filling for pumpkin ravioli is simple. Instead of the traditional roasted Mantova squash, she uses butternut here and says it’s a great substitute. She also uses crushed amaretti cookies, breadcrumbs, eggs and grated Grana Padano or Parmigiano Reggiano, so the filling isn’t too sweet. in the north Italian In the city of Mantova, they add mostarda di Mantova, a sauce of local fruit preserved in syrup. It is usually a mixture of pears, apricots and cherries with a little mustard powder added, which makes it tart. Here, Bastianich has opted for golden raisins.
This recipe is reprinted from the 2025 book “Lydia’s The Art of Pasta”:
Pumpkin Ravioli
Services: 6
Makes 24 to 30 ravioli
for ravioli
½ small butternut squash (about 1 pound), divided lengthwise, seeds removed
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
kosher salt
⅓ cup golden raisins, coarsely chopped if large
½ cup freshly grated Grana Padano or Parmigiano Reggiano
¼ cup finely dried breadcrumbs
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 recipe fresh pasta just with something eggs (The recipe is as follows)
flour for rolling
for the sauce
6 tbsp unsalted butter
10 large fresh sage leaves
kosher salt
½ cup freshly grated Grana Padano or Parmigiano Reggiano
guidance
1. To make ravioli, preheat the oven at 400 degrees. Place the squash in a baking dish and drizzle olive oil on the cut side. Add 1 teaspoon salt. turn it over; Place it cut side down in a baking dish and add 1 cup water. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil, and continue baking until squash is completely tender when pierced with a knife, 15 to 20 minutes more. Remove it from the oven and let it cool.
2. Meanwhile, put the raisins in a small bowl and add hot water to cover. Let them soak for 10 minutes, then drain them and pat dry.
3. When the squash has cooled, scoop out the flesh into a large bowl. Mash it well with a potato masher; You should have about 1 heaped cup. Add drained raisins, grated cheese, breadcrumbs, nutmeg and ¼ teaspoon salt. Mix well to make a homogeneous filling.
4. To make ravioli, cut the dough into four pieces; Work with one piece at a time, and keep the rest covered with a wet kitchen towel. Flatten a piece of dough with your palm, and then roll it through the pasta machine on the widest setting. Fold the dough into a letter shape to make it square and roll it out again, putting the wide end first. Continue rolling it out on progressively narrower settings, always keeping the dough lightly floured, until you have formed a long strip, as wide as your machine will allow, and a little less than ⅛ inch thick. Repeat with the remaining dough. (If the strips get too long to work with, cut them in half crosswise before proceeding.)
5. Fill a small bowl with water. Place a strip of dough in front of you with the long side facing you. Drop 1 tablespoon filling balls at about 1½-inch intervals on the bottom half of the dough strip. Use your finger or a pastry brush to brush water around the edges of the filling, and fold the top of the dough strip over, covering all of the mounds of filling. Press around the filling to seal it and remove air bubbles. Use a serrated pastry wheel (or a regular one if you don’t have a serrated one) to cut between the mounds, and roll the cutter under the strip to cut off any excess dough. Transfer the cut ravioli to the floured baking sheet, and repeat with the remaining dough and filling. You should get about twenty-four to thirty ravioli. They are ready to cook, but can also be frozen for later use. To freeze, place baking sheet directly in freezer. Once the ravioli are frozen solid, transfer them to a resealable plastic bag for long-term storage.
6. When you’re ready to cook, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta.
7. To make the sauce, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the butter begins to melt, drop the ravioli into the boiling water. Scatter the sage leaves into the melted butter and let them crackle for a minute to enhance the flavor of the butter. Add 1 cup pasta-cooking water and cook over low heat until ravioli are cooked. Cook the ravioli until al dente, 3 to 4 minutes, depending on how thick you rolled them. Gently drop them into the boiling sauce with the help of a spider. Toss gently to coat the ravioli in the sauce, adding a little more pasta water if it seems dry. Add salt if necessary. Remove the pan from the flame. Sprinkle grated cheese over ravioli, toss and serve immediately.
Note: Selection of squash is very important. The local variety used in Mantova is larger in size and bright orange in color, with solid and compact pulp and high sugar content. The peel is extremely thick, with green stripes, and looks puffy and segmented, like a peeled orange. In addition to butternut, which I use here, you can also try blue Hokkaido pumpkin, kabocha squash, or long Island Cheesy Pumpkin.
Fresh pasta with just some eggs (from the ravioli ingredients list above)
Pasta can be made from only flour and water, but eggs can be added to enrich the texture and enhance the color and flavor. In lean times, just a few eggs were used. My grandmother used to use two whole eggs to make pasta for 10 people, whereas in Bologna – “La Grassa” (“The Fat”) – which is known for making the richest and best egg pasta in Italy, only egg yolks and flour are used to make the pasta. Of course, it’s golden yellow, rich and delicious.
Makes about 1 pound
Material
2 cups flour, plus more as needed
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 large eggs
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons ice-cold water, plus more as needed
guidance
1. To make the dough with a food processor, add the flour and salt to the bowl of the food processor and process for a few seconds to aerate the mixture. Whisk together the eggs, olive oil and water in a measuring cup with a spout. With the food processor on, add the wet ingredients through the feed tube. Process Cook for about 30 to 40 seconds, until the dough forms and gathers on the blade. If the dough does not gather on the blade or is not processed easily, it is too wet or too dry. Punch down the dough, then add more flour or ice water, small amounts at a time, using the processor or kneading by hand. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead it by hand for a minute, until it is smooth, soft, and pliable (but not sticky).
2. To knead the dough by hand, combine flour and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together the eggs, olive oil and water in a measuring cup with a spout. – Make a well in the center of the flour and add the mixed wet ingredients into it. Mix using a fork until the dough comes together in rough clumps. Knead the dough with your hands, and sift and knead the flour itself into the bowl until you have a homogeneous mass. Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface, and knead until it is smooth, soft, and pliable (but not sticky), 3 to 6 minutes, depending on the strength and speed of your kneader. As with food-processor dough, adjust by adding a little flour or water as needed at the beginning of the kneading stage.
3. Press the dough into a disk, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and leave it at room temperature for at least ½ hour. (You can refrigerate the dough for up to a day, or freeze it for a month or more. Defrost it in the refrigerator, and return it to room temperature before rolling out.)
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From “Lidia’s The Art of Pasta” (copyright) 2025 by Tutti A Tavola, LLC. Alfred A., a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Excerpted with permission from Knopf. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.