RAVIOLI

I've got the formuoli, guys.

That's right.

The ravioli situation around the Folk Life & Liberty Fortress Test Kitchen is expert.

look:

WORD!

That's butternut squash and sweet potato and carrot composing most of the sauce.

There's cashew cheese and spinach and sauteed mushrooms mashed up for the filling.

And there's fried garlic, seared mushrooms, and spinach on top to turn it up to eleven.

Yeah.

It's like this:

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RAVIOLI DOUGH!

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1 cup King Arthur all-purpose flour;

1/4 tsp sea salt;

1/3 cup semolina flour;

2 T olive oil;

3/4 cup warm water-

kneaded for 11 minutes, wrapped and rested for 30 minutes or more,

then rolled out thiiiin on a well-floured surface. Don't be shy with the dusty flour. It'll make all the difference especially when that dough starts to get thinny-thin-thin.

I cut mine out with a 2.5 inch circle cutter, a top and a bottom disc per piece.

If you've got a ravioli cutter? Use that. Obvi.

Anyway, The dough was more than enough for three dozen raviolli, and that's a LOT of circles.

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But what's a ravioli is it isn't filled with the most deliciousness?

I know, right?

So, here's how that works:

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FILLING!

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In a HOT pan, I added two cups of sliced mushrooms, lightly salted, and allowed them to start to brown, before adding three tablespoons of finely minced onion, and two cloves of crushed garlic.

As the moisture leaves the mushrooms, Y'gotta add a teaspoon of olive oil and give the pan a shake.

Next up, two big handfuls of chopped spinach, left on the heat just long enough to wilt.

After that- I tossed a cup of cashew cheese (homemade, of course),

and pulsed all of that in a food processor with a tablespoon of nutritional yeast and the juice of half a lemon.

That's all.

When all the bits pulp up, you've got your filling ready to go.

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A small spoonful of filling in the middle of one layer, covered over, and pressed along the edges with fork to seal it. Thirty six times in a row. It's tedious. But, it's rewarding.

And more importantly, it's worth it.

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I fried two cloves of sliced garlic in oil to brown them, and I did the same with a few button mushrooms, and I kept a handful of spinach reserved, for making the final product exxxtra-sexxxy.

But all of that was for later.

We need SAUCE if we're gonna have something special here-

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SAUCE!

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in a two quart saucepot, with a glug of oil, I sauteed:

1/4 chopped onion;

1 cup chopped skin-on sweet potato;

1 cup butternut squash, peeled and cubed;

1 clove garlic;

1 chopped large carrot;

sea salt, rubbed sage and dried thyme, to taste.

all sauteed for a bit, then covered over with enough vegetable broth to submerge the vegetables.

Boil all of that until softened,

then puree it in your food processor or blender until smooth.

return it to the pot, add more broth if necessary, and simmer it for another twenty minutes on low heat.

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You'll need a big pot of boiling salty water to get those filled and sealed ravioli ready.

They'll float when they're done.

I always toss them with sauce and pasta water, and I gotta lay 'em in a pool of MORE sauce.

I mean, TOO MUCH IS THE RIGHT AMOUNT!

And with just a spritz of fresh parsley and some cracked black pepper?

C'mon.

You get that new hottness:

THAT'S THE BIG ACTION.

You put the spinach in the bowl with the sauce and wilt it,

you throw all the mushrooms on top, and you shake all the garlic slices around,

and then?

Well, then you eat the whole thing. As much as you can fit in your face.

Non-red sauce, friends.

You can always get extra fancy with the other colors.

Red's great, but orange is every bit as worthy.

Butternut, Sweet potato, carrot magic is the right answer.

I hope you make some, and I hope you agree.