Pumpkin Ravioli with Sage Butter and a Pinch of Spices

Pumpkin ravioli bring to mind a special family ritual.

No one else in my family liked them—or at least not as much as my mom and I did.

Buying them, cooking them, and dressing them with nothing but melted sage butter and grated Parmigiano Reggiano was our autumn tradition.

We would sit at the table, ignore the meh faces of my siblings, and enjoy the sweetness, the spices, the aromas… everything.

recipe for pumpkin ravioli

Where My Love for Spices Began

I can say without hesitation that this is where my love for spices began.

A little girl who is crazy about nutmeg is a girl who will one day choose spices as the theme of her wedding. She is a girl who will close her eyes and instinctively guess the perfect spice or herb for this or that ingredient—not that it works every time, but let me pat myself on the back for once.

She is also a girl who will buy books about spices and their stories, look for spices as the cure for almost anything—this truly works very, very rarely—and fall for every spice market she encounters, buying far more than she could possibly consume in a lifetime.

And she is also the girl who made every possible effort to learn how to make pumpkin ravioli from scratch because…

Mom, they are even better.

Pumpkin Ravioli in Northern Italy

Pumpkin ravioli, also called pumpkin tortelli, are a classic autumn and winter dish from Northern Italy.

They have a naturally sweet pumpkin filling and are traditionally served with melted butter, fragrant sage leaves, and plenty of grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

Making ravioli from scratch takes time, but none of the individual steps is particularly complicated. You will first bake the pumpkin, prepare and roll out the pasta dough, mix the filling, shape the ravioli, and finally cook them in salted water.

The sage butter sauce requires only a few minutes, so you can prepare it while the water is coming to a boil.

Pumpkin ravioli recipe
pumpkin ravioli with sage butter recipe #gourmetproject #ravioli
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How to Make Pumpkin Ravioli with Sage Butter

Course pasta
Cuisine Italian
Servings 2
Author Claudia Rinaldi | Gourmet Project

Ingredients

for the pumpkin ravioli dough

  • ½ cup of all-purpose flour
  • ¼ cup of semolina
  • 2 egg yolks
  • water if needed

for the pumpkin ravioli filling

  • 1 cup peeled pumpkin, cut into chunks
  • 1 tablespoon grated Parmigiano Reggiano
  • 1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon brown cane sugar
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 tablespoon almond flour
  • 1 tablespoon mustard

for the sage butter sauce

  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 4-6 sage leaves
  • grated Parmigiano Reggiano, for serving

Instructions

Bake the pumpkin

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Wrap the pumpkin chunks in foil and bake them for about one hour, or until completely tender when pierced with a fork.

Make the pasta dough

  1. Place the all-purpose flour, semolina flour, and egg yolks in the bowl of a stand mixer.

  2. Work them with the dough hook until the ingredients come together and form a ball around it. Add a few drops of water only if necessary. You can also knead the dough by hand on a lightly floured surface.

  3. Roll out the pasta dough as thinly as possible. If you are using a pasta machine, begin with the widest setting and gradually reduce the thickness.

  4. Cut the dough into long strips at least four inches wide.

Prepare the pumpkin filling

  1. Place the Parmigiano Reggiano, sugar, nutmeg, salt, almond flour, and mustard in a bowl.

  2. When the pumpkin is ready, pass it through a potato ricer directly into the bowl. Mix until all the ingredients are evenly combined.

Shape the ravioli

  1. Place small spoonfuls of pumpkin filling along the pasta strips, leaving approximately two inches between them.

  2. Fold the dough lengthwise over the filling.

  3. Press carefully around each mound of filling to remove any trapped air and seal the dough. Use a knife, pastry wheel, or ravioli cutter to separate the ravioli and trim away the excess pasta.

Make the sage butter

  1. Place the butter and sage leaves in a small pan. Melt the butter gently over low heat, allowing the sage to release its aroma without burning.

Cook and serve

  1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

    Cook the pumpkin ravioli until they rise to the surface and the pasta is tender.

  2. Lift them gently from the water, dress them with the melted sage butter, and finish with grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

Enjoy your pumpkin ravioli!

Claudia