Ingredients:

• Pasta Dough:
• 2.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup hot water
• ½ teaspoon salt
• Butternut squash filling:
• 2 cups butternut squash puree
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ½ cup Parmesan cheese grated
• salt and pepper
• Roasted Butternut Squash and Browned Butter Pecan Sauce:
• 2 cups butternut squash cubed
• 1 tablespoon sweet basil extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons fresh thyme divided
• salt and pepper
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons black currant balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• ½ cup pecans toasted

Instructions:

How to make fresh pasta dough:
In a large bowl, mix flour with salt. In a separate bowl, stir water with egg until well mixed.

To a large bowl with a flour mixture, add egg-water mixture and mix until well incorporated. Knead the dough until well-textured and firm. The dough should not be too wet or too sticky. It should only stick to itself, but not to your hands. It should not be too dry, either. Make the dough into a ball or disk, wrap with plastic wrap. Let the dough stand for 1 hour at room temperature before using. This allows gluten to work.

How to make butternut squash filling:
If your butternut squash puree is too watery, drain using a paper towel and a mesh strainer to get rid of any unnecessary liquid.

Mix butternut squash puree with brown sugar, nutmeg, and grated Parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

How to roll fresh pasta dough and make ravioli:
Roll the dough. Unwrap a batch of ravioli dough from plastic, divide into 2 equal parts. Flour working area. Roll out each part of pasta dough very thinly, on a floured surface, using a roller. Make sure to flour the upper portion of pasta dough and the roller to avoid sticking. Lift the rolled dough several times during rolling to make sure it doesn’t stick to the counter, and flour working surface with more flour, if necessary.

Prepare the ravioli mold. Flour the ravioli mold. After you have rolled the 2 portions of dough very thinly, place the first layer of dough on the ravioli mold, so that it covers all 12 holes.

Add filling. Place a small portion of ravioli filling into each indentation, making sure not to overfill. The filling should be at the same level or lower as the flat part of the mold. Place second layer of pasta dough on top of filled ravioli.

Using a roller pin, roll across the mold and along the edges to separate ravioli. As you roll the pin, it also removes all air from ravioli, which is very important for ravioli success. By now you should have extra dough hanging off the outside 4 edges of ravioli mold – carefully separate it. Continue rolling the pin along the inside edges of 12 raviolis to separate them from one another: you could also use your fingers to press across the edges to separate ravioli. Flip ravioli mold to release ravioli.

Cook ravioli. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Boil ravioli for 5 minutes, drain and set aside – to be used with sauce below.

Or freeze ravioli. Or, alternatively, if you’re not using ravioli right away, place them on a plate or baking sheet in the freezer to freeze. After they are frozen, place them in a plastic bag and keep frozen until needed.

How to make sauce:
Preheat oven to 400 F.

Toss cubed butternut squash with olive oil, fresh thyme, salt, and pepper. Spread on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet in one layer.

Roast in the preheated oven at 400 F for 30 minutes. Remove from oven.
While the butternut squash is being roasted, add butter to a medium size skillet and cook on medium heat for about 4 or 5 minutes until it browns. Make sure the butter does not smoke or burn. Remove from heat. Let it cool for 5 minutes. Add balsamic vinegar and lemon juice. Stir.

Add cooked butternut squash ravioli to the butter sauce. Top with roasted butternut squash and chopped toasted pecans. Top with extra fresh thyme. Enjoy!