Vegan Pumpkin Ravioli in Sage Butter with Pecans
Some of my first memories in the kitchen are strongly connected to my grandmother. As a child, I helped her out at family celebrations – from seasoning sauces, cutting onions to forming potato dumplings. One day during school holidays, she had a great idea prepared for my sister and me: homemade pasta. From kneading the dough, rolling it out, to hanging the finished pasta over various things to dry – from pots or even the back of a chair.
Unfortunately, growing up and dealing with things like work, one becomes lazier in everyday life. Somehow it seems like too much of an effort to prepare homemade pasta every single time. Instead, you just grab the package from the supermarket, done! But in fact, making homemade pasta dough only requires a few ingredients, basic kitchen techniques, and is really fun. Sure, it's not a 20 minutes meal, but isn't it just wonderful to experiment with handmade pasta in different shapes and sizes?!
Today, we're making ravioli, filled pasta. Matching the season, we are going to prepare a pumpkin orange filling. Once cooked, the ravioli will be tossed in sage butter and served with crunchy toasted nuts on top. Of course, you can fill ravioli to your desire, and also serve them with a creamy sauce, marinara, or else!
Vegan Pumpkin Ravioli in Sage Butter with Pecans
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 100 g (0.75 cup) flour
- 100 g (0.75 cup) semolina
- 100 ml (0.4 cup) water
- 0.25 tsp salt
- 1 tsp olive oil
For the filling:
- 250 g (9 oz) Hokkaido pumpkin
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 onion
- 2 tbsp oil
- 0.5 tsp ground nutmeg
- 0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3 tbsp almond flour
- 0.5 orange (zest)
- salt
- pepper
Also:
- 100 - 150 g (0.5 - 0.75 cups) vegan butter
- 15 g (0.5 oz) fresh sage
- 75 g (2.5 oz) pecans
Instructions
Start by preparing the pasta dough. Mix flour, semolina, and salt in a bowl. Pile the mixture up on your clean working surface. Form a hollow in the middle and add water and olive oil inside. Start to incorporate the flour mixture little by little until it’s well mixed. Then knead until a smooth dough forms and keep kneading for 10 minutes. If you have a standing kitchen machine, let it do the job!
Transfer the dough into a bowl, cover with a clean kitchen towel (or wrap in plastic wrap) and let it rest at room temperature for approx. 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F. For the pumpkin filling, cut Hokkaido pumpkin into smaller pieces. Halve the garlic clove and cut the onion into wedges. Add all three ingredients to a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Bake in the oven for approx. 20 minutes, or until the pumpkin is soft.
As soon as the pumpkin is soft, remove from the oven and let the vegetables cool down for a few minutes. Afterward, add them to a liquid measuring cup or a bowl and use an immersion blender to puree them until smooth. Add almond flour and freshly grated orange zest. Stir to combine season to taste.
Quarter the pasta dough and use a pasta machine or a rolling pin to roll each portion into long and thin sheets of pasta. Dust the dough and the working surface with some flour to avoid any dough sticking on it.
Continue with 2 out of the 4 sheets of pasta. Add 1 teaspoon of the pumpkin filling to these sheets and leave enough space to add the next spoonful of filling next to it. Continue until there’s no space on the sheets anymore. Brush the dough around the filling with some water. Now add the „empty“ sheets of pasta on top to seal the pumpkin filling. Use your fingers to carefully press and seal the filling into the dough – avoid air bubbles if possible. Cut out the ravioli. Afterward, you can continue with the remaining dough, knead it, then roll it out again.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and let the ravioli cook in simmering water for approx. 6 – 8 minutes. Once they float on the surface, they should be pretty much done.
While the ravioli are cooking, melt some vegan butter in a large frying pan and fry sage leaves for a few minutes. Once the ravioli are done, transfer them directly from the pot to the pan. It’s totally wanted to also transfer some of the cooking water into the frying pan, so no need to drain the ravioli. Toss to coat the ravioli in vegan butter. Serve them with some chopped (toasted) pecans and freshly grated orange zest on top. If desired, sprinkle some vegan Parmesan on top.
