Friday, October 16, 2009

Easy Fall Dinner - Ravioli with a Pumpkin Cream Sauce


This is a great easy meal that comes together really quick, but still tastes decadent and homemade. I'm not one to shy away from prepared freezer meals (particularly from Trader Joe's, my favorite for freezer meals), but this comes together just as quickly and just feels like it was made with more love than a meal that is poured into a pan and heated up. I based this on a recipe from a restaurant here in town that is no longer around (Zaffiro, which was originally Pascucci's, which still exists in their downtown location). Our absolute favorite dish at this restaurant, which both the husband and I would order nearly every time, was the Spicy Sausage Ravioli with Butternut Squash sauce. The way the spicy and sweet would play off each other was just fabulous. I wanted to recreate this at home, so I picked up some Italian Sausage stuffed prepared ravioli (not spicy, but I think there are some spicy brands on the market these days). For the sauce, I had heard that Trader Joe's carries a seasonal pumpkin butter that can be made into savory soups & sauces. I combined about a 1/4 cup of the pumpkin butter with about a 1/2 cup of heavy cream (I said it was decadent! You can use lighter dairy products) and spiced it up with about a 1/4 tsp ground sage (I'm afraid of ground sage, so I didn't use much. The store was out of fresh) and 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg. I served this sauce over the cooked raviolis and topped with finely chopped candied walnuts, also from Trader Joe's. I finally topped everything with grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. The entire meal takes about 15 minutes, is really filling and just plain makes us happy!

1 comment:

  1. Yum! This looks delicious. What a great Fall recipe.

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