Honeynut Squash Ricotta Ravioli With Brown Butter Sauce

These homemade honeynut squash ricotta ravioli with brown butter sauce bring all the flavors of fall. This post is sponsored by Calphalon. All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Beyond Sweet and Savory possible.

One of my favorite fall sightings is the endless varieties of squash gracing the grocery stores. This year I discovered a new variety, honeynut squash, which has become a new favorite for our family besides red kuri and kabocha. I couldn’t be more excited to partner with Calphalon to share a delicious and fun recipe featuring them, my honeynut squash ricotta ravioli with brown butter sauce. These homemade ravioli require a bit of elbow grease but are worth every bit of your time. Honeynut squash, ricotta, Parmesan, and nutmeg form a magical combination in this classic Italian filled pasta. They make the coziest fall meal and add a wow factor to your dinner table.

Ingredient Notes:

• Honeynut squash: honeynut squash look just like butternut squash but they tend to be smaller in size. They have a deep honey color with dark orange flesh and intense natural sweetness that becomes caramel like when roasted at high heat. When young, the honeynut squash is green. They change from green to orange when they are ready to be picked. For cooking, look for honeynut squash with the least amount of green.
• Ricotta: look for sheep’s whole milk ricotta from your local Italian grocery store or specialty market. Quality ricotta only has milk, salt, and either an acid or natural culture for its ingredients. Avoid ricotta with various gums and stabilizers listed as ingredients because they are used to artificially thicken the milk solids. If you can’t find high quality sheep’s whole milk ricotta, cow’s milk ricotta that is moist, soft, and creamy is a great substitute.
• Pine nuts: pine nuts are delicious, little teardrop-shaped nuts used in making pesto and baked goods. They have a soft texture and sweet, buttery flavor when raw. Toasting them brings out the flavor and adds a little crunch. If you can’t find pine nuts, use walnuts or hazelnuts instead.

How to Make Ravioli

I like to break down this honeynut squash ricotta ravioli recipe into four parts: making the filling, making the pasta dough, assembling the ravioli, and cooking them. The filling can be made two days ahead. Make the pasta dough and assemble the ravioli the day you want to cook them.

How to Make the Pasta Dough

For the ravioli, I like using homemade pasta dough. My pasta dough is a simple mixture of type 00 flour, durum flour, and eggs. This pasta dough is easy to make, texturally resilient with rich eggy flavor, and versatile enough to form into any shape. There are a few ways to make fresh pasta dough--with a food processor, mixer, or by hand. I like the first two methods the most and used my mixer for this recipe. 

For me making fresh pasta is a half day commitment. If you don’t have the time, buy fresh pasta sheets from your Italian deli or use wonton wrappers. What I like about using fresh pasta is you gather all the scrap pieces and re-roll them to make more pasta sheets. With store bought pasta sheets, they are too dry to re-roll and end up wasted.

Mix eggs, flours, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer with a fork until a shaggy dough forms. Use your fingers to press any loose bits of flour into the mass of dough. If needed, add a tablespoon of water to absorb all of the flour.  Knead with dough hook until dough is smooth and elastic, about 8-10 minutes. Cover dough with a kitchen towel cloth and let it rest at least 30 minutes at room temperature.

Once you’re ready to work on the dough, divide it into 4 pieces. Rewrap the rest until ready to use. Use the heel of your hand to flatten the dough into an oval approximately the same width as your pasta machine, about five inches. Set the rollers to their widest setting and pass the dough through twice. I have six settings on my pasta machine. Roll it once through each of the next three settings (5, 4, and 3), adding flour as needed, until the dough is about ¼-inch thick. 

Once the pasta is about ¼-inch thick, begin rolling it once through the remaining settings. As you roll, lightly sprinkle all-purpose or semolina flour on both sides of the pasta to prevent it from sticking to itself. I roll it out to about 1/16-inch thick for the ravioli. When I tried rolling out the dough to 1/32-inch thick, the dough became too fragile and tore easily during handling. 

Cut pasta into sheets, about 14 inches long and 5 inches wide. Dust the sheets lightly with semolina flour and stack in between parchment paper on a baking sheet and cover with a clean, lightly dampened kitchen towel. Repeat with remaining dough.

Tips for Making the Filling

The filling is made with roasted honeynut squash, ricotta, Parmesan cheese, egg, and seasoned with nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Roasting honeynut squash intensifies its sweetness. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Place the halves cut-side up on a baking sheet and drizzle with a little olive oil. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper and roast in the oven at 400ºF for 30 minutes.

Squash can hold a lot of water. Once you scoop out the squash, mash it up. If the squash seems a bit wet, dry it out over the stove by cooking it on medium-low heat for 8-10 minutes then let it cool. For a good filling, make sure to use well drained ricotta. Put all the filling ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Put the filling in the fridge for 2 hours to firm up. The filling can be made up to two days ahead. 

How to Assemble Ravioli

Have a small bowl with a lightly beaten egg nearby for sealing. Lay one sheet of dough on a lightly floured work surface. Beginning 1 inch from a short end, drop a tablespoon of the filling about 2 inches apart in a straight row lengthwise down one half of the dough. 

Lightly brush the egg wash around each filling.

Take another pasta sheet and lay it lengthwise over the filling.

Press out any air bubbles, then seal the edges by pressing down on the dough with your fingers.

Use a ravioli cutter, sharp knife, fluted pastry wheel to cut between the mounds of filling to cut out individual ravioli.

How to Store Ravioli

Place the honeynut squash ricotta ravioli in a single layer on a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with a towel as you work. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Ravioli can be frozen in a single layer on a cookie sheet dusted with semolina flour. Once frozen, transfer to a freezer storage bag, and return to the freezer. Frozen ravioli can be cooked directly but increase cooking time to about 5 minutes.

How to Cook Ravioli

Bring a big pot of salted water to a boil. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Working in batches, add the ravioli and cook until they float to the surface, about 3 minutes. Remove them from the pot with a slotted spoon and drain well before adding them to the butter sauce. 

How to Make the Pasta Sauce

These honeynut squash ricotta ravioli require nothing more than a simple brown butter sauce. Cook unsalted butter in a large nonstick pan over medium heat until lightly browned. I like using my Calphalon Premier™ Stainless Steel fry pan for this job. It has a heavy-gauge aluminum core which distributes heat evenly, for exceptional browning, searing, and sauteing. It's one of top 5 pans! Transfer the ravioli to the pan and toss them to coat with butter.

What to Serve Ravioli With

These honeynut squash ricotta ravioli taste amazing in the brown butter sauce, fried sage leaves, toasted pine nuts, and a generous shaving of Parmesan cheese. Thyme or oregano also pairs well with these ravioli. If you can’t find pine nuts, walnuts make a great alternative.

It was a joy to bite into these ravioli and taste the cheesy, sweet squash filling scented with nutmeg. The nutty butter sauce with fried sage and toasted pine nuts brought everything together. There is absolutely no comparison between homemade and store bought ravioli. Give this fall pasta project a try and you’ll discover a whole new world of fresh pasta.

For more pasta inspiration, check these recipes: butternut squash gnocchi, duck ragu with paccheri pasta, skillet pumpkin ricotta lasagna, spring ricotta gnudi.