Jack-O’-Lantern Ravioli
Course:
Dinner
Cuisine:
Italian
Seasonal Event:
Fall, Halloween
INGREDIENTS:
PASTA:
- 6 large eggs
- Flour- about 6 cups
- Activated charcoal powder
- 3 tbsp harissa paste, bomba sauce, calabrese chili paste, red pepper puree, or other bright orange pepper paste. (*NOTE: Most other grocery stores will stock something along these lines in the jarred pepper section, just make sure to get one that is already an orange-hued puree, rather than just whole peppers in oil or water in a jar.)
- Semolina flour for dusting
FOR THE FILLING:
- 1.5 cups (13 oz) baked, drained and pureed squash. You can use butternut, acorn, or pumpkin.
- ½ c whole milk ricotta, drained in cheesecloth
- 1 egg yolk
- 2/3 c finely-grated parmigiano-reggiano
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 tbsp semolina flour
JACK-O’-LANTERN RAVIOLI DIRECTIONS:
- Gather all your tools and ingredients. Well-organized step outs make for successful pasta!
- Bake and puree squash
- Drain ricotta
- Grate parmigiano
- Start with 2 c flour in mixing bowl and 1 tsp activated charcoal. Stir to combine well.
- Add 3 eggs and 3 tbsp water. Stir to combine, adding flour as needed to form a mass.
- Turn out onto floured surface and knead until smooth
- Wrap in plastic and allow to rest. Use bench scraper to completely clean black bits that may have stuck to the kneading surface. We don’t want black to deposit into our orange dough. *Note: Recipe makes more black dough than you will need for the jack-o’-lanterns. You can either sheet it into a simpler shape or freeze for later use.
- Put the 3 eggs, 3 tbsp harissa, and 1-2 tbsp water in blender and puree until smooth.
- Pour the puree into mixing bowl containing 2 c flour and incorporate to form a shaggy ball of dough. Add more flour as necessary.
- Turn out onto floured surface and knead until smooth
- Wrap in plastic and allow to rest
- Combine the filling ingredients in another mixing bowl. Fold together and stir until smooth and uniform. The filling can be pureed in a food processor instead of a bowl to achieve the smooth texture easier- feel free to do that if you have one handy.
- Spoon filling into piping bag
- Work with small sections of pasta dough, more orange than black
- Sheet both pasta colors
- If you have the spaghetti (sometimes called angel hair) pasta attachment, make a few strands of orange pasta.
- Use upside-down cookie cutter to denote where pumpkin will be on orange sheet.
- Adhere strands of orange pasta to form the ribs.
- Pipe filling onto base sheet
- Brush water around filling so top sheet adheres
- Place the ribbed top sheet over the filling, and carefully seal with an upside-down cookie cutter
- Use the straight rolling cutter to cut around the cookie cutter in an oval shape. Don’t cut too close to the cookie-cutter, you don’t want to risk the ravioli opening while boiling.
- Cut out eyes and a mouth using the small black sheet of pasta. Nose is optional. This is your time to shine- be creative with your jack-o’-lanterns and put your personal touch on them. Adhere the facial features to the pumpkin with a little water from your paintbrush.
- Cut out a stem and adhere that to the top of the pumpkin. You may want to look at the final pumpkin shape once the features are on, and trim with the cutter as necessary to get the form just right.
- Repeat with remaining dough
- Store pasta uncovered in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Can also be frozen.
*Boil pasta in salted water for 3-4 minutes.
More Quick & Easy Recipes for Halloween: