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.

Johnathan said “You’ve outdone yourself” as he bit into the warm salty, buttery, creamy raviolis. These were from the July 2007 issue of Bon Appétit, where a reader wrote in to get this recipe from FUSE in Dallas. It’s meant to be a first course for 6 people. We had it for 2 for lunch, and have twice the amount of filling we needed. I’ll admit my raviolis looked a bit demented, but tasted heavenly. The recipe notes to cut the wonton wrappers into 3.5 in rounds - yeah right - I just folded them up and plunked them in the water and it was still amazing. I also had used most of my shitake mushrooms for the roast chicken, so I re-constituted some dried porcinis I had, which also added a great woodsy taste to the butter sauce. This is another easy, impressive dish that will make your significant other melt, and then do the dishes.

Endless Summer Taco Truck, Brooklyn

So, if you’re following this blog closely, you’ll realize I haven’t made one dish this week - the roasted portobellos with taleggio. Sometimes, life happens, and you end up at the burrito truck in Williamsburg or eating fried clams while celebrating a friend’s birthday in Coney Island. No need to worry - I’ll be making the roasted ’shrooms today for lunch - luckily I saved and procrastinated on a dish that won’t rot in the fridge.

I was trying to think about what I wanted to make this week, and I don’t necessarily want to have a “theme” every week, but some sort of guideline helps me sift through the books, magazines, and cravings I seem to be having the more I do this cooking thing. So this week I’m turning to the publication that made me ditch my vegetarian lifestyle with their 50th anniversary issue - Bon Appétit. Out of all the magazines I get in my little mailbox - and I’ve somehow subscribed to more than I thought - I get so excited about this one, and really pour over each issue cover to cover. I usually don’t skip the long articles like I do with some other magazines like New York magazine - do we need to talk about Obama’s marriage for 6 small typed pages, front and back? OK, I used recipes from issues from 2006-this months. I also wanted to use summer issues so I could try to find recipes that were relevant to what’s at the farmer’s market. I also find a lot of the Bon Appétit recipes challenging, and pricey. So I have my shopping list, but depending on the price of things - I don’t know how much a small game hen is - I might substitute some ingredients. I’ll splurge another time. I’ll also be able to link the recipes (well some) easily so you can download them from Epicurious. Here we go:

Monday - Rory’s Ribs with Grilled Corn, Cantaloupe, and Fresh Herb Salad - Johnathan has been BUGGING me for ribs - so I caved…ok, I lied about this link - this was a cover recipe and there’s no archive online…. - July 2007

Tuesday - Sweet Pea and Artichoke Lasagna - June 2007

Wednesday - Whole Roasted Game Hens with Grits and Wild Mushroom Sauce - I may be subbing some skin-on chicken breast and thighs depending on prices and another one that is not online - oy - September 2006

Thursday - Handmade Pasta with Pancetta, Cherry Tomatoes, and Herbs - September 2006

Friday - Edamame Ravioli with Browned Butter-Mushroom Sauce - July 2007

*Dessert at some point - Coconut-Mint Cream Cake - I saw this in this month’s issue and HAVE to try it!