Butternut Squash Agnolotti

Hello friends, I'm back with another fall inspired dish. As this weather keeps cooling down I get hungry for all my favorite fall flavors. Butternut squash is one of those, and when married with fresh pasta its hard to resist. Plus I have a little boy who loves my homemade pasta and helping me in the kitchen.

Recipe - Serves 4

Pasta Dough

2 cups OO flour
3 whole eggs
3 egg yolks
pinch of salt

Use either a stand mixer or your hands to mix the dough. Measure all the ingredients into the bowl of the stand mixer and knead with the dough hook until the dough is smooth and elastic, approximately 8-10 minutes. If you do not have a mixer simply measure the flour directly onto a clean work surface, make a "well" and add the eggs, pinch of salt and use your hands to knead, until dough is formed and smooth. Cover dough with plastic wrap and let rest for at least 30 minutes.

Butternut Squash Filling

1 medium size butternut squash, pealed and chopped
4 fresh garlic cloves, pealed and minced
1 large shallot, minced
5-6 fresh sage leaves
2 Tbs olive oil
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup mascarpone cheese
2 Tbs grated parmesan cheese, and more for serving

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F, peal and remove the seeds from the squash and dice into pieces around 1" in size. Mince the garlic and shallots, then toss together with the squash, Olive oil, salt and pepper. Lay the squash onto a sheet pan, add the sage leaves and lightly cover with foil, bake in the oven until the squash is nice and soft, 40-45 minutes. Remove from oven and let the squash cool.

Puree the roasted squash in a food processor, once the squash is nice and smooth add the mascarpone and parmesan cheese and blend together. Adjust the seasoning of the filling with salt and pepper as needed. Put the filling in a pastry bag and set aside in the refrigerator to keep cool.

Divide the pasta dough into 8 pieces and work with one piece at a time. Starting with the thickest setting on the machine, roll the dough down into a long rectangle the width of the pasta roller. Roll the dough down to 1/16" thickness, setting 6 or 7 on most machines. Repeat this with all the pasta dough.

Lightly dust work surface with semolina flour. Work with one pasta sheet at a time and keep the remaining dough lightly covered in plastic. Working the length of the pasta sheet, pip out a log of filling down the center of the pasta sheet. Lightly brush water along the dough on the top side of the filling. Fold the bottom half of the dough over the filling, extending at least 1" past filling. Use the palm of your had to press the dough tight against the filling to seal and remove any air pockets. Now use your index finger and thumb to pinch off "pockets" of dough 3/4" in length, creating "pillow" shapes.

Using a pasta cutter, trim the exsess dough off the strip of the filled agnolotti, leaving a lip of approximately 1/2". Now use the same cutter to cut between each "pillow" creating individual pieces. Set the filled pieces on a sheet pan lightly covered in semolina flour to keep them from sticking. Repeat with remaining dough and filling.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil to cook the agnolotti. While the water is coming to a boil heat a few Tbs of butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. Allow the butter to brown, 4-5 minutes. Drop the pasta into the boiling water and cook for 2-3 minutes, until tender but not overcooked. Fresh pasta cooks very fast, so keep a close eye on it. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water. Add the cooked agnolotti to the sauté pan with the brown butter, toss in a few fresh sage leaves and some of the pasta water and cook over medium high heat, tossing to coat, season with salt if needed. Serve the pasta with freshly grated parmesan, a few pieces of thinly sliced fresh apples, and toasted pumpkin seeds.