Recipe of the Week: Butternut Squash Ravioli with a Brown Butter Sauce

I realize I’ve been slacking on the recipe of the week that I had previously promised every Monday, but this week’s recipe is SO good that hopefully it makes up for it!  Yesterday I made butternut squash ravioli with a brown butter sauce, yum.  Sounds fancy and complicated, doesn’t it?  Well fancy it was, but surprisingly it was also one of the easiest dishes I’ve made yet. 

I had been craving this dish ever since I had a similar version of pumpkin ravioli last fall at a great restaurant called Terrapin in Rhinebeck, New York.  If it sounds familiar, that is probably because you heard about it over and over again in the news as the site of Chelsea Clinton’s rehearsal dinner.  So you KNOW it was top-notch!  The flavors in this dish are perfectly festive for the fall season and the presentation is beyond impressive.  My mouth is watering just describing it to you…

Here’s the secret: store bought ravioli from a real Italian deli (I got mine from Rossi’s in Poughkeepsie) and a simple brown butter sauce recipe from Food Network star and renowned Italian chef,  Giada de Laurentiis.  

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Brown Butter Sauce

Adapted recipe and photos by Culinary Chronicles of a College Kid.blogspot.com

Original sauce recipe from Giada de Laurentiis

Serves 3

• 1 pack of 12 fresh, store bought butternut squash ravioli
• 1 stick of butter
• 2 tbsp torn fresh sage leaves
• ½ cup dried cranberries
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp pepper
• grated parmesan cheese for garnish

Place a pot of water on the stove over high heat.  As you are waiting for this to boil, place a large frying pan over medium heat.  Put the butter in the frying pan and move it around until completely melted.  Once this is done, add the cranberries and sage and let this cook until the butter starts to brown (about 4 minutes).  Turn the heat under the skillet off and season with salt and pepper.

Once the water begins to boil, add the twelve ravioli and gently stir so that none of them stick to the bottom of the pot.  Keep a careful eye on the pot, as fresh ravioli usually takes less time to cook (about 4 minutes).  The raviolis are finished cooking once they rise to the surface.  Turn off the heat and gently remove the ravioli from the water, one by one, using a slotted spoon. 

Distribute the sauce over each portion and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Jorge thinks it tastes like Halloween...I said Fall.  Same thing.
But both agreed it was our favorite meal as of yet!
P.S. Those black dots are actually delicious cranberries. My camera is the worst.

The original sauce recipe called for 1 ½ sticks of butter, but I found this to be too much and would recommend using only 1 stick, as I stated under ingredients.  Walnuts were also a part of the original recipe, but a few of my housemates are plagued by nut allergies.  Too bad, I bet they would have tasted delicious with the squash and cranberries.  If you are interested, add ½ cup of walnuts and let me know how it tastes!

Total time: 12 minutes