Homemade Pumpkin + Ricotta Ravioli with Tomato Marinara

There are certain staples of a winter pantry: molasses, pumpkin, canned tomatoes, sage, cinnamon, dark chocolate, oatmeal... it's almost enough to make me wish the snow had never melted and the air had never thawed.

Almost.

Here's a flashback that I simply didn't have time to post (but somehow did have time to make?) during those cold dark days of winter + school.

Homemade Pumpkin + Ricotta Ravioli with Tomato Marinara

Imagine, if you will, a Christmas tree in the corner of a living room bedazzled with ornaments from two lives. Packages are wrapped delicately waiting for our first Christmas morning together, and I am just as excited to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas. Which, actually, we may have done the very night we ate this...

But it's quite a different world right now. Right now it is so lush and green outside that it's practically Amazonian-- and we have the mosquitos to prove it. The humidity, for some scientific reason, is affecting our ability to turn on our kitchen light-- there's a delay of a few hours after we flip the switch. But, once upon a time, we ate like hibernating bears. And here's what we needed:

For the ravioli dough:

3+ cups flour (I ended up needing to thicken it with a little more flour than three cups)

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, beaten

almost 1/2 cup boiling water

For the ravioli filling:

2 cups ricotta

1 cup pumpkin puree (there was still some in this enormous can, so we made pumpkin scones the next morning!)

1 egg

1 teaspoon + salt

Nutmeg, cardamom, cayenne

The filling is beautiful, and fragrant. The only reason to bother making ravioli (because it is kind of a pain, to be honest) is because you can put anything in it-- I don't know why one would make meat or cheese ravioli, unless you were going to put into it something special that you couldn't buy at the store. So: mix enthusiastically and set aside. You will continually recombine as you fill the ravioli.

Mix and knead the dough, but do not overknead. Let rest for at least 30 minutes in a ball shape. Turn out on a lightly floured surface, and with a greased rolling pin, roll out to about 1/4 an inch thick. Or, maybe you have a pasta roller, which would make this actually pretty possible.

Maybe you have a pasta-cutter. If you don't, there's a saying about the genealogy of invention, on it's matrilineal side.

There are many shapes your ravioli can take. I chose this little half-moon pocket. I put a dollop of the filling onto one edge of the circle, folded gently, pressed, sealed with a little water, and sealed again with a fork (and, if necessary, more water).

Once I had completed the ravioli pockets, I started the marinara.

I gotta say: this ravioli would be great with a simple sage + butter sauce, or light glaze. But, I didn't want that. It was SO COLD out, and we're a sauce-y family. So.

What you will need:

one onion

a couple of garlic cloves

two large cans of dices tomatoes

large dashes of crushed red pepper

handful of basil

dashes of parsley

dashes of sage

my personal favorite addition to marinara, esp for vegetarian lasagna: a couple pinches of cinnamon

swirl of wine (or balsamic)

swirl of cream or half and half

Cook the onions and garlic together until fragrant. Add the tomatoes, cook for 3-4 tomatoes. Add herbs, let simmer. Add wine + cream. Simmer together for 20 or so minutes, and let rest.

While simmering the sauce, boil a large pot of salted water (just enough to immerse the pasta). They only need to boil for about 10 minutes.

Serve.

Enjoy.