Hamptons Epicure: How to Make Butternut Squash Ravioli à la Topping Rose House
Winter on the East End has many bright spots, even mid-week! I took the January cooking class at the Topping Rose House in Bridgehampton with Chef Kyle Koenig last Wednesday evening. Classes will also be offered on the third Wednesday of the month in February and March. And I’ll do my best to be there—because I learned so much!
The focus this month was purée. Chef Koenig demonstrated various purée methods, and together we prepared an appetizer of Butternut Squash Ravioli and a Potato Purée, and Pastry Chef Cassandra Shupp led us in making Cranberry Panna Cotta.
Chef Koenig had prepared an entrée of classic Slow Roasted Beef Brisket earlier in the day. He gave us a written recipe for his brisket, but I can’t help but wonder if this Texan is keeping some of his brisket secrets to himself.
Below is Chef Koenig’s recipe for Butternut Squash Ravioli, incorporating some of my observations from the class. We used one of the Topping Rose House’s “steam roller” electric pasta machines. Chef Koenig swears that this pasta is easy to make on a hand-cranked pasta maker or with the KitchenAid mixer’s pasta roller attachment, after a little practice.
It’s definitely a great dish to make at this time of year—in fact the squash we used was “still local,” from the Milk Pail Fresh Market in Water Mill.
Chef Koenig encouraged his students to try making up their own ravioli fillings into “nice, tight purées” at home, suggesting that we try mixing potatoes and truffles. He says that his classes are “not about teaching the recipes but about the techniques” and that when it comes to stuffed pasta at the Topping Rose House, “We’ve done everything under the sun!”
BUTTERNUT SQUASH RAVIOLI
Serves 2 as an entrée.
Squash Filling
1 butternut squash
butter
thyme
sage
1 egg
1 cup grated Parmesan
Preheat oven to 350.°
Slice squash in half lengthwise.
Scoop out seeds, lay squash on sheet tray flesh side up. Season with salt and pepper. Place 1 tablespoon butter in cavities and lay fresh sage and thyme leaves over. Loosely cover with foil and roast for 30 minutes.
Remove foil and continue roasting until tender (about 45 minutes).
Discard herbs and scoop flesh into a food processor.
Turn machine on and purée.
Add egg and Parmesan and pulse until combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste and transfer to a piping bag with a wide tip.
Pasta Dough
10 egg yolks
3 eggs
3 cups 00 flour (this is a very finely ground pasta flour)
1/2 cup all purpose flour, more for dusting
Egg Wash
1 egg, beaten with:
1 tablespoon water
Place flours in the mixing bowl of a KitchenAid mixer. Add eggs and mix on slow speed until dough comes together. Remove from bowl and knead on floured surface for 10 minutes by hand. Wrap dough and allow to rest for 30 minutes.
Roll out dough on floured surface, pass through pasta maker repeatedly until you have a long sheet of dough that you can almost see through.
Cut dough in half across its width and trim into 2 neat rectangles.
Brush pasta with egg wash about 11/2 inches from one long edge of dough.
Pipe a straight line of filling close to that long edge.
Using a bench knife and your fingers, roll dough along long, filled side to encase filling in dough.
Use your fingers to seal filled dough into equally sized pillows.
Cut pasta with wheel pasta cutter into ravioli. Repeat with remaining sheets of dough.
Ravioli may go directly into hot, salted pasta water to cook or may be frozen on a sheet tray for future use. (When frozen solid, ravioli may be removed from tray and placed in freezer bags.)
Fresh ravioli will probably take less than 5 minutes to cook in boiling water. (Stir occasionally.)
Remove ravioli with a slotted spoon and serve with a sauce of your choice, such as sage butter.
To learn more about The Topping Rose House “Seasonal Techniques” cooking classes or to make reservations with the restaurant visit toppingrosehouse.com.