A warm bowl full of nourishing and mellow autumn fruitfulness.

Makes 18 ravioli

INGREDIENTS

Ravioli

• 1 quantity egg pasta made with 2 eggs and 200 g flour or 1 pack fresh pasta sheets

Pumpkin

• 400 g pumpkin, peeled, seeded, chopped into cubes and roasted until soft and caramelised
• 1/2c almond meal
• 1 egg
• 100 g parmesan grated

To finish

• 50 g parmesan, grated
• 20g butter
• 1 quantity parsley and walnut pesto

METHOD

1. Mix all the pumpkin ingredients together and blend with a stick blender or food processor until smooth. Taste – it may need more cheese or some salt.
2. If you have made the pasta, roll into sheets with a pasta make (usually 15 cm wide). Cut each strip every 10cm. Cut each of these in half so you end up with pasta pieces that are roughly 10cm by 7.5 cm.
3. If you are using bought pasta sheets, roll them out with a rolling pin to make them a bit thinner, then cut them into pieces as above.
4. Take half the pieces and lay them out, reserve the other half for the tops.  Place a good tablespoon of the pumpkin mixture in the middle of these then moisten a strip around the around the edges. Place the tops on and press firmly all the way around with the tines (‘prongs’) of a fork. Important that you make a secure parcel here that won’t come apart when cooked.
5. At this point you can freeze some or all of these by laying them on a baking tray in the freezer until frozen then storing in a plastic bag. This makes a super-fast dinner another night.
6. Put a big pot of salted water to boil and when boiling throw all the ravioli in at once. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until the pasta is al dente.
7. Drain.  Place in bowls, toss in butter and parmesan and serve with a dollop of parsley and walnut pesto.

Note: you can make different pasta shapes for the ravioli. Try cutting into circles with a biscuit cutter. You can also buy special ravioli presses. I prefer to make larger ravioli because you can get more filling in them. These freeze really well and a a great fast meal standby in the freezer.