Posted on by Lilly Monster

Squashin’ It: Cozy Fall Ravioli

Dearest Readers,

Welcome back into my cozy kitchen! I hope you’ve all been well (and safe, especially) and that you’re finding time to enjoy the new season. I’m thrilled Summer is over and “sweater weather” can now commence as the colder temperatures roll in. As you might have guessed, I’m NOT a hot weather girlie. I’m more of a clouds, rain, and misty forest bog lady.

We just settled into a new home and a new job, and while all of that has been quite disorienting, taking the time to cook a comforting meal has worked wonders in soothing my worries and stress. This recipe is honestly right off the cuff, minus the dough recipe which I will link below. Butternut squash is the quintessential Fall ingredient, and I really wanted to lean into its sweetness by pairing it with mushrooms and pork sausage. Obviously, I think this dish would taste great even without pork for my vegetarian readers. The key, primarily, was honoring the butternut’s natural sweetness and nuttiness and the good news is anything can be ravioli. So, if you want to recreate this recipe I encourage you to let creativity and taste buds take the wheel ❤️ These are the main ingredients I used:

As you can see, our new kitchen has very little counter space. Frustrating and makes me want to scream, but it teaches me hard lessons like being better at planning.

🌈🦄positive thinking🦄🌈

While I cubed up one whole butternut squash, I preheated the oven to 400 degrees. The plan was to let it get as caramelized, crunchy, and sweet as it can possibly get. Once cubed, I placed it all on a baking sheet and added 2-3 Tbs of water and 1 Tbs of olive oil. I let it bake for about 30 minutes, and then tossed them in about 1 Tbs of honey. This would facilitate caramelization. Afterwards, I let it broil on low for another 15 minutes.

Mind you, these times will vary based on the temperament of your oven. Each one is different! So keep your eyes on it especially while it’s broiling.

And Voilà. You can definitely get them crunchier, but this is where I decided to stop. After cooling, I added the butternut to the blender with about 1/2 cup of cubed Gruyère cheese, a pinch of salt and a pinch of coriander (in the absence of nutmeg). This really brought out the flavors I wanted. The filling ended up tasting sweet, smooth, and nutty, but at the same time a little tangy and savory because of the cheese. Perfection.

The next part was my least and favorite. I know that’s a contradiction, but just… bear with me. The pasta dough. The recipe I used is the following from the Food Network:

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/ravioli-dough-recipe-1938192

I added flour, eggs, and salt to mixer on medium low. As that was blending, I added a thin line of olive oil until the dough formed into clean a ball like so:

Now, this is the part I like the least- the kneading- as you “knead” some upper body strength for this one. Lol, I’m hilarious.

But seriously, knead the dough for about 10-15 minutes until it is smooth and elastic. This will build up gluten and allow for the dough to stretch. My ball looked like this:

I wrapped my dough in plastic wrap and let it rest 30 minutes on the counter. After setting a timer, I started working on the sauce for the ravioli. This included some sautéed breakfast sausage and mushrooms. I started with the sausage, because that lined the pan with oil that is used to sauté the mushrooms. It’s not the most elegant looking topping, but the flavor pairing turned out amazing. Alex wrapped up the details of the sauce by adding thyme and butter, and I finished the ravioli. No salt was needed because the sausage already provided that.

My favorite part of the “dough” process was using the pasta roller. I have a Kitchen-aid attachment for it, and as you pass the chunky dough through the rollers, it comes out thin, smooth and velvety on the other end. You end up with long stretchy strips of thin pasta dough upon which you add dollops of about 1/2 Tbs of filling, like so:

Place one strip on top of the other, and use whatever instrument you prefer to shape the ravioli. Personally, I used a glass because I don’t know where my ravioli press ended up in this house.

As you push through and make your little ravioli, you’ll have leftover trim pasta dough. Just repeat the process and push it through the pasta roller again. I ended up making approximately 16 ravioli. Aren’t they cute?

Place in boiling water for 30 seconds, strain and toss in toppings (or whatever sauce you prepared) and there you go! The tail end of this process is easy peasy and fast.

Taste test? YES.

The bouncy doughiness of the ravioli meshed so well with the velvety filling; the sweetness of the caramelized butternut was balanced out by the savory saltiness of the sausage and mushrooms. SO GOOD!

Do yourself a favor, and one weekend take the time to make the ravioli of your dreams. A heads up: it does take time so make sure you have the morning or afternoon to yourself for some healing and slow-max cooking. Allow yourself the time to enjoy the process: of getting dusty with flower, spreading your equipment all over the kitchen, taking up space, and letting your mind slowly re-center itself far, far away from stress and worries.

I wish you all the best, and talk to you soon ❤️🍁 Happy Fall.

Evelyne

Posted on by Lilly Monster

Falling Leaves & Mushroom Soup

Hello Dearest Readers,

It’s the coziest season of them all.

How do you stay warm and cozy in the Fall?

While I’m delighted that the seasons are changing, I also anticipate the need for sustained rituals to support good mental health throughout the colder days. One of these is lighting my favorite candle, listening to music, and making soup.

The soup I will be talking about today is the last recipe I’ll review from Susan Semenac’s The Market Chronicles. I chose to make the “Mushroom and Chestnut soup”.

Admittedly, I couldn’t find roasted chestnuts anywhere. So, I chose the next best thing– cashews. They’re often used in vegan recipes to create silky textures in salad dressings and sauces due to their high volume of fat. So I thought, why not give this a whirl. YOLO, as the ancient wisemen say.

Here are the ingredients I used:

The first step is chopping up all your veggies and setting aside.

At this point, you will sauté the celery, leek and mushrooms until tender and add a pinch of salt and pepper. I also added some sherry towards the end for flavor depth and let that evaporate.

Once your veggies are tender, add them to whatever stock you prefer (I chose homemade chicken stock) along with the cashews. I know adding nuts to soup sounds unconventional, but trust the process!

Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes.

Once the 20 minutes are up, go ahead and blend this in small batches. Be mindful that the consistency of the soup will depend on how much stock is added to the blender. If you want a thicker soup, like a velouté, use less stock.

In the end, plate and add toppings. I used leftover sautéed mushrooms, parsley, chives, and added a bit of cream. I think some parmesan cheese would go with this as well. The result is a silky soup that is very rich, filling, and tasty. I recommend blending well, as the nuts require more time to break down and become smooth.

This is the final result:

The one mistake I made was not blending enough. It ended up being a bit … chunky, for lack of better words. Hence, my recommendation earlier to blend, blend, and blend some more. Otherwise, this was delightful. I can see it being the perfect meal for a cold evening. It’s adequate especially if you are lactose intolerant or vegetarian/vegan.

Well, my friends, I hope you enjoyed this post. I wish you a happy and joyful weekend & week ahead.

Evy