Saturday, May 23, 2009

Sweet-Potato Ravioli with Sage Butter Sauce

Seduce your senses with the sweetness of the yam stuffed ravioli, juxtaposed with the subtle and elegant herbaceous sage butter sauce. At the risk of sounding horribly cliched, the combination of sweet-potato, sage and shallots are a match made in heaven. This recipe from Bon Apetit is sure to knock your socks off as it did mine. While the recipe calls for a couple of cumbersome steps, this dish is absolutely spectacular, making the dicing, slicing, pulsing, sauteing and assembling that is requires well worth it.
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This recipe uses wonton skins as a substitute for the ravioli - which is a clever idea that worked wonderfully. However, watching an episode of Masterchef Australia on television last week where ravioli was prepared from scratch, it did not seem all that daunting. Unfortunately, currently lacking a pasta rolling machine, my pasta making days will have to be put on hold until further investments are made.
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Ingredients

For the ravioli: 500 g red-skinned sweet potatoes, 2 tblsp golden brown sugar, 2 tblsp (1/4 stick) butter, room temperature, 340 g wonton wrappers, 1 large egg, beaten to blend
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For the fried shallots and sauce: 1 cup vegetable oil, 4 large shallots, cut crosswise into thin rounds, separated into rings, 6 tblsp (3/4 stick) butter, 8 large fresh sage leaves, thinly sliced, 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper, 1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted




Method

For the ravioli: Preheat oven to 400°F. Oil rimmed baking sheet. Cut sweet potatoes in half lengthwise; place cut side down on baking sheet. Roast until tender, about 35 minutes; cool. Scoop potato pulp out of skins into small bowl. Spoon pulp into medium bowl, add sugar and butter; mash well. Season filling with salt and pepper.

Line large baking sheet with parchment paper. Place wonton wrappers on work surface. Using pastry brush, brush wrappers with beaten egg. Place 1/2 tablespoon sweet-potato filling in center of each. Fold each wrapper diagonally over filling, forming triangle. Seal edges. Transfer to parchment-lined baking sheet. Let stand at room temperature while preparing fried shallots and sauce. (Can be made up to 5 days ahead. Freeze, then cover and keep frozen. Do not thaw before cooking.)

For fried shallots and sauce: Heat vegetable oil in heavy small saucepan over medium-high heat. Working in two batches, fry shallots until crisp and dark brown, roughly for 3 - 5 minutes on medium heat. Using slotted spoon, transfer shallots to paper-towel-lined plate to drain. Cook butter in large pot over medium heat until beginning to brown, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Add sage and red pepper.

Meanwhile, working in batches, cook ravioli in pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain well. Add ravioli to pot with butter sauce; toss to coat. Transfer to plates, drizzling any sauce from pot over ravioli. Top with fried shallots and pine nuts; serve immediately.

1 comment:

manju said...

I use this cheat, too -- wonton or gyoza wrappers to make ravioli or other filled pastas. It's a great short cut for weekday cooking. I hope you get your pasta roller soon!