If you’re ambitious and experimental, making your own ravioli is the way to go. You can make any sort of filling, with whatever you happen to have available. This recipe was really using the last of the last of what I had as far as groceries for the week. I had saved some pasta dough from the other day - I had made 2 servings (2 eggs and 2 cups semolina) but it was plenty for that day’s dish, as well as 20-24 ravioli. The ravioli dough is rolled out super thin, so it goes a long way. We use our Atlas pasta maker, which makes making sheets of dough really easy. I had a can of pumpkin open  - I had made a pumpkin bread loaf (add $1.69 to the grocery total) for some friends, and had about 1/3 cup left. I had also bought some ricotta this week at TJ’s. I wanted to bring more fall into our house and paired sage and toasted hazelnuts with the pumpkin flavor. It was great! You can also use wonton wrappers like we did for the mushroom ravioli if you don’t want to make your own pasta dough, or if you don’t have time, it’s a great way to get custom pasta flavors. Here’s what we did:

Makes 2-4 servings - depending on how hungry you are

Pasta Dough, rolled out into rectangles (or something like a rectangle) about a dime thick

Filling:

1/3 cup pumpkin - from the can, like you would use for pumpkin pie

1/2 cup ricotta

1 teaspoon fresh chopped sage

3-4 tablespoons fresh grated parm

salt and pepper to taste

1. Combine in a small bowl. Use a teaspoon to drop onto the bottom of the first sheet of pasta dough, about 1-2 inches apart. Using your finger, brush water in between the drops of filling. Carefully lay the second sheet of pasta dough on top, and sealing the ravioli (the water keeps the pasta sticking together) trying to get all the air out of pockets. With a ravioli cutter or just a paring knife, cut the raviolis and place on a pan with plenty of flour and let dry for about 2 hours. Note: if you find a lot of air in your ravioli, poke it with a fork and try to press out the air as much as possible.

2. Heat oven to 300F. Place 1/2 cup raw hazelnuts on a cookie sheet and toast for about 5-7 minutes, until they’re really fragrant. Rub off the brown skin as much as possible, then coarsely chop or run through a food processor.

3. Heat a large pot of salted boiling water and add ravioli. Cook for about 4-6 minutes, until they float to the top then carefully remove with a slotted spoon (they may be too fragile to dump into a colander, so it’s best to use a slotted spoon). Put on a serving plate and cover with foil to keep warm.

Sauce;

4. Heat a stick of butter in a saucepan for about 3 minutes until starting to brown. Add 1 tablespoon torn sage leaves and let fry. Salt and Pepper to taste.

5. Pour butter sauce over ravioli, toss with toasted hazelnuts, and grate fresh parm on top.

Mushroom soup didn’t sound great to me, it didn’t have any cream, and it made a pea soup like color which I’m very adverse to. But the hazelnuts sounded appealing, and why not try something new? It tastes better than it looks, and the garlic bread I put with it was great too. The recipe tells you to transfer the soup to a food processor to blend it, but I have a hand blender which is a great tool, and transfering hot liquids sounded like guaranteed disaster. I also just bought a pre-cut stir fry mushroom package, and didn’t need to make and pay for another 12 oz of mushrooms we didn’t need. But if you’re making it for 6, buy the whole extra 12 oz. Gremolata is a fancy word for chopped garlic, parsley, and lemon - ooooooo…….. This one adds hazelnuts, which are a nice contrast to the mushy soup. This isn’t my favorite, but I’m glad I tried it, and now I know what gremolata is.