Update: While I extolled the benefits of substituting, there’s nothing like the original. I made the dish again with the remaining raviolis. This time i made sure to pick up fresh sage and pecans. It was the best! Here’s a peak at the goodness.
I am all about recipes. They give us guidelines and proportions and do so for good reason – they work! But there are times when it’s hard to be confined to that for whatever reason – experience, availability of items, time. Granted, by not following them, you have to be careful of falling flat on your plate or creating the most divine thing ever. It’s always a toss-up.
In Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone,there is this recipe for butternut squash ravioli with toasted pecans and sage that I not only enjoy devouring but I also enjoy making. It’s one of those multi-step recipes that is actually pretty straightforward, and ends up being a crowd-pleaser. It also makes up a fair amount and in short order. We’ll get about two or three meals for two out of them. All made delicious by the copious amounts of butter.
This is where I turn into a food-prep Henry Ford and assembly line this! I laid out half of all of the wrappers on wax paper to make them easier to move around. Next I spoon the filling in the middle of each one. Then I went back one by one brushing water on the edges and applying another wrapper over it sealing the edges. Once those have dried, I go back and cut out circles using something handy like a glass. Now you’ve got perfect circular raviolis!
Next you melt a whole lotta butter in a large skillet with garlic (check), thyme (check) and sage (d’oh!). Forgot the sage too. What to do? Insert stereotypical go-to phrase here: Forget about it! The sage does lend a delicious fall sensibility to this dish, no doubt, but the thyme in my mind would still bring that homey warmth the dish is going for.
Once you have all that melted and sautéed together, add the pecans or almonds, in this case. Then once the ravioli have gently boiled for about 4-5 minutes, you add them to the skillet just for a bit to get the yummy brown butter sauce all over them and dust with Parmesan. And enjoy!
The pecans definitely would have added a bit more sweetness but the almonds still worked adding a good crunch. I missed the sage but the thyme was a fine standby. All in all it was pretty good and my dinner companion thought so as well.
I froze the remaining raviolis and made some up last night in what was an impromptu meal. This time using basil, cashews and kale. It all worked deliciously together.
Both of these meals really struck me as the epitome of small kitchen cooking and working with whatch ya got. So don’t be afraid of mixing and matching, replacing and substituting. You just might invent something great.