Seared Ravioli with Brown Butter, Sage and Butternut Squash
- Savory
- Quick
- Italian
- Stovetop
- Oven
Golden pan-seared ravioli with crisp edges, sweet browned butternut squash and a nutty brown butter sage sauce finished with parmesan. A fast, savory Italian dinner.
- Total
- 19 min
- Prep 6 · Cook 13
- Serves
- 2
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Searing · Pan sauce
Instructions
-
Bring 2 l water to a boil in a large pot. Meanwhile, peel the butternut squash, cut it into 1 cm cubes (about 250 g) and pick the sage leaves from their stems. Grate the parmesan.
~5 min
-
Heat the olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the butternut squash cubes in a single layer, season with 0.25 tsp salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned at the edges and tender when pierced with a knife, 7 to 8 minutes.
~8 min
A single layer and medium-high heat let the squash brown through the Maillard reaction instead of steaming, which builds sweetness and depth.
Searing Keep the squash in a single layer and resist stirring too often; let each face sit undisturbed until it releases easily and shows deep brown edges.
-
While step 2 cooks
While the squash cooks, add the ravioli to the boiling water and cook until they float and are just tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and set aside on a plate.
~4 min
Cooking just to tender keeps the pasta firm so it survives the final toss in butter without turning mushy.
-
Push the squash to one side of the pan and add the butter. When it foams, add the sage leaves and cook until the butter turns nutty brown and the sage is crisp, about 1 minute.
~1 min
The milk solids brown and toast in the hot butter, creating nutty flavor compounds, while the sage fries crisp in the same fat.
Let the butter foam and smell nutty before adding the sage; if it browns too fast, pull the pan off the heat for a few seconds so the sage crisps without burning.
Pan sauce Watch the butter closely as it foams and turns amber; pull the pan off the heat the moment it smells nutty so the solids don't tip into burnt.
-
Add the drained ravioli to the pan and toss gently in the brown butter for 1 minute to coat and warm through. Season with the remaining 0.25 tsp salt and the black pepper.
~1 min
Pat the cooked ravioli dry before they go into the pan so the butter coats them instead of steaming.
Pan sauce Watch the butter closely as it foams and turns amber; pull the pan off the heat the moment it smells nutty so the solids don't tip into burnt.
-
Divide the ravioli and squash between two plates, spoon the brown butter and sage over the top and finish with the grated parmesan.
~1 min
