Squash Ravioli with Sage Oil and Pine Nuts

Since making egg-free fresh pasta works so well, why not tackle stuffed pasta? Over the past year I have searched everywhere for dairy-free filling inspiration; books, magazines and the web, but the only versions I have ever found are heavy on ‘vegan cheeses’ which I’m not too keen on. Their taste can range from insipid to truly unpleasant, and on the whole I reckon ‘real’ ingredients are better than imitations.  Then last week I watched an episode of the Hairy Bikers on my way home from work and their squash stuffed pasta caught my eye – a real dairy-free filling for stuffed pasta at last! My version had a couple of tweaks including more onion and nutritional yeast to give a savoury balance to the sweet squash filling. I know one traditional Italian filling is pumpkin and amaretti biscuits, so I might try and make some eggless amaretti biscuits for next time, but these were really rather tasty, and great with a sage and pine nut oil.

Use my egg-free fresh pasta recipe, found here.

Squash Filling (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soya-free, sesame-free, gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan)

serves 4

• 1 butternut squash, peeled and chopped
• 1 red onion, fairly finely chopped
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• Salt and pepper

– Roast the squash with a drizzle of oil and some red onion for 25 minutes
– Add the red onion and roast for another ten minutes
– Tip into a food processor. Add the yeast and blitz until the squash is smooth but some small bits of onion remain.
– Cool

To assemble:

– Place small dollops of filling on a sheet of pasta.

– Gently place another sheet on top, and press around the dollops to make sure there is no air in the pockets. Cut out with a cookie cutter, make sure the edges are pressed firmly together.

– Place on a floured (or preferably semolina covered board) and let air dry.

– To cook, gently place in boiling water and bubble furiously until the parcels come to the surface (2-4 minutes)

– To make the sage oil – fry sage leaves in oil until crispy, remove the leaves and set the oil aside

– Serve with sage oil, crispy leaves and pine nuts (if you can tolerate them).