The dish is traditionally eaten in Northern Italy as part of the Christmas Eve Banquet, after which the children put out their shoes in anticipation of a visit from La Befana, a female Santa, who fills footwear with small toys and treats, but only if they’ve been good!
The secret of good Italian food lies in the way it carefully combines flavours whilst maintaining the integrity of simple ingredients and this fragrant Pumpkin Ravioli is no exception to that rule.
Preparation Notes
Preparation time includes 1 hour chilling.
Ingredients
For the pasta
- 400g 00 flour
- 4 free-range eggs
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
For the filling
- 2000ml pumpkin, cut into quarters
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large red onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 225g mostarda di frutta, alternatively use a mixed fruit chutney and add ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- 125g vegetarian Italian-style hard cheese
To serve
- 30g butter
- 30g fresh parsley, chopped
- 150g vegetarian Italian-style hard cheese
Method
- Combine the pasta ingredients, lightly knead and leave in a cling filmed bowl to refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Heat the oven to 200ºC/gas mark 6 and bake pumpkin until soft, approximately 30 minutes.
- Remove the seeds and scoop out the baked pulp, finely chop and place into a bowl.
- Heat the olive oil and sauté the onions.
- Reduce heat and add the mostarda di frutta, salt, and ground spices, mix well.
- Combine the Italian-style hard cheese, pumpkin and onion/spice mixture into a bowl and set aside.
- Using a pasta machine or fat rolling pin, roll out the pasta dough 15cm by 50cm and 2mm thickness. Layer the pasta sheets between tea towels to prevent them from drying.
- Place a heaped teaspoon of the mixture into 2 rows at approximately 10cm distance apart.
- Lightly spray the pasta with water and sandwich this with a top layer thus creating a sandwich effect.
- Using a ravioli cutter, cut into 5 cm squares and place into boiling water as quickly as possible.
- To serve, drain the pasta and return into the pan along with the butter, and parsley. Lightly mix and serve with the Italian-style hard cheese.
