We don’t make homemade pasta often enough. The process takes a while. It makes a bit of a mess. But, the result proves so worthwhile. Fresh pasta is tender, doughy and utterly satisfying. Unlike dry pasta, which often serves as the vehicle for transporting sauce to mouth, fresh pasta refuses to be upstaged. It delivers its own dose of unique flavor that shapes the experience.

Our other loves butternut squash ravioli. She attended the same college as Julia Child. Every autumn, the school celebrates Julia Child Day. It mostly involves eating. The dining hall makes a collection of Ms. Child’s signature dishes, including butternut squash ravioli. That is, at least, how we remember the story.

Because of our other’s affinity for the dish, and because we grow butternut squash in our backyard garden, we had to give it a go. We’re glad that we did. It was gloriously decadent. A meal that she still talks about and that we’ll remember indefinitely. Be prepared, though: it requires a significant time investment. Consider it as a bonding activity. Or, listen to a podcast. Maybe a couple of podcasts.

Butternut Squash Filling

Ingredients

• Two tablespoons of butter
• Four shallots, minced
• Two cups of roasted butternut squash, pureed
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup of heavy cream
• 1/2 cup of parmesan reggiano cheese, grated
• One teaspoon of nutmeg
• A pinch of cinnamon

Directions

Melt butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Sauté shallots for one minute. Mix in squash puree, and cook for two to three minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in cream, and continue cooking for a few more minutes. Remove from heat, and add cheese, nutmeg and cinnamon. Cool completely.

Homemade Ravioli

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup of warm water
• One tablespoon olive oil
• Two cups of all-purpose flour
• One cup of semolina flour
• One teaspoon of salt

Directions

We use a bread machine to make our dough because, well, it simplifies things. If you don’t have a bread machine, follow these basic instructions (but with our ingredients).

Add wet ingredients first, then dry ingredients. Hit the “dough” or “pasta” function of the machine, and let it do all the work.

When the machine finishes, remove the dough. Shape it into a ball and slice into four equal slices. Using a pasta roller, roll each slice into sheets. We start on the rollers’s thickest setting then incrementally work the sheets down through the “2” setting.

Lay one sheet flat on a lightly floured surface. Arrange one-teaspoon dollops of butternut squash filing in two rows, each dollop about two inches apart horizontally. Lay a second pasta sheet on top. Press and smooth down all of the space between the dollops of filling. Remove air bubbles. Slice the sheets into individual raviolis.

Cook by dropping in boiling water for a couple of minutes—until raviolis float to top.

Sausage and Sage Brown Butter Sauce

Ingredients

• One pound of ground Italian pork sausage
• One teaspoon of red pepper flakes
• Eight tablespoons of butter
• Ten fresh sage leaves

Directions

In a saucepan, brown sausage until cooked completely through. Stir in red pepper flakes. Pour mixture into strainer and set aside, allowing excess fat to drain. Meanwhile, melt butter in same saucepan over medium heat. When melted, add sage leaves. Cook until butter browns and sage leaves become crispy.

To plate, pour brown butter sauce over ravioli. Top with sausage crumbles and grated parmesan reggiano cheese.

If there are leftovers, you did something wrong. Terribly wrong. No matter how much you make or how many people are eating, every ravioli should be devoured. You can worry about the caloric consequences tomorrow.