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Italian Pumpkin Ravioli









John showed me his Italian pumpkin from his veggie plot. As soon as I saw it I though of zucca barucca, but I am not so sure now, so many years have passed since I had one... maybe the name is not correct. I have been told by an agronomist that it is a zucca barucca :-), possibly a Marina di Chioggia or Mantovana.




John gave me half of his pumpkin!




Half is a lot, we made a soup, a sweet pie, some ravioli... and I still have some left!
The kids made the ravioli. I prepared some pasta dough for them (recipe here), then I took out the pasta machine and handed it over to two very excited kids. They took turns rolling the pasta out, from the larger to the thinner setting, and when I say 'took turns', I mean literally: one roll each, and then start again, boy, girl, boy, girl, boy, girl...




In the meantime I made a quick filling for the ravioli: I used some steamed pumpkin (steaming is better than boiling, which would make the pumpkin too soft, but baking also works well), added some feta cheese, breadcrumbs, and salt and pepper to taste. The children placed a sheet of pasta on the ravioli tray and added the filling.




Then they placed a second layer of pasta on top and rolled it well to seal the filling in place and shape the ravioli. Traditionally in Italy we make tortelloni with pumpkin, but this is quicker, and the kids really enjoyed using the ravioli tray.




Ecco fatto!




They used up all the pasta, and ate the rest of the filling with their fingers! A few cuts of pasta from the sides of the ravioli tray were stored aside and made into maltagliati, a sort of fat irregular tagliatelle which  we later used to put into a pumpkin and bean soup.




We cooked the ravioli by dropping them in salted boiling water, and collected them with a slotted spoon as soon as they were ready (they only take a few minutes) to then toss them in a pan with melted butter and sage. A perfect dinner!




Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©




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Comments

  1. Hiperica di Lady BohemeApril 25, 2011 at 11:50 PM

    Meravigliosi! Complimenti!

    ReplyDelete
  2. RoseApril 26, 2011 at 7:05 AM

    What a beautiful squash! And those ravioli sound good; what a fun activity for the kids, cooking is such an important skill to teach them too!

    I answered your question about the rhubarb mead on my blog, but for convenience, I'll tell you here: the mead didn't turn out as good as I had hoped. It's tastes like sugar water...and as far as it being mead...there is only a trace amount of alcohol in it, which can be a good thing I suppose, depending on your perspective. It may have to do with the type or quality of the yeast, or perhaps I just had different expectations from what the recipe intended. As it is, it will make a good mixer for other juice drinks or the like. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. AlessandraApril 26, 2011 at 10:10 AM

    Ciao Rose,

    thank you for the answer. Maybe this recipe is a bit like ginger beer (fizzy and nice but not alcoholic) you could call it rhubarb beer :-).
    I wander if for a real mead you must use honey... or at least, this is what I though...

    ciao
    Alessandra

    ReplyDelete
  4. SwathiApril 26, 2011 at 11:19 AM

    Delicious ravioli, cute helpers.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sensible VegetarianApril 26, 2011 at 2:27 PM

    Delicious ravioli. Lovely helpers. Very nicely made from scratch. Thanks for visiting my space and for your sweet comments, really appreciate it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Priya SureshApril 26, 2011 at 9:10 PM

    Fantastic ravioli,truly marvellous..

    ReplyDelete
  7. Food Glorious Food!April 27, 2011 at 2:57 AM

    Gorgeous ravioli! Thanks for dropping by earlier :) Always love ravioli but never try making with squash. Will try your recipe over the weekend :) Thanks for sharing and following you!

    ReplyDelete
  8. RachanaApril 27, 2011 at 8:19 PM

    What a coincidence, I made some ravioli last week...will post soon. Your ravioli looks delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hiperica di Lady BohemeApril 28, 2011 at 12:02 AM

    Ciao tesoro, la vellutata, in mancanza di piselli freschi, è ottima anche con quelli surgelati!
    Grazie per la fantastica idea!!! Un bacione

    ReplyDelete
  10. Gloria BakerApril 28, 2011 at 11:05 AM

    Alessandra these pumpkin ravioli look delicious and beauty, I have to do some day, thanks by sharing, gloria

    ReplyDelete

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