Home for the holidays.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! As I mentioned in my tale of two Thanksgivings, I spent the official holiday with Nick's family in our childhood hometown. We grew up in a small Midwestern town, where people are friendly, houses have front and backyards, and the fresh air (and size of parking lots) would take your breath away. My parents moved away when the last of us went to college, so I hadn't been back in years. I spent the few weeks before Thanksgiving reminiscing and making lists of places I wanted to see, stores I wanted to shop in, ice cream stands I wanted to go to (who knew, ice cream shops close when it gets cold?)...all very mundane but all very special to me in their own way.

Happily home, we did a lot of cooking, of course. The sumptuous and traditional Thanksgiving feast included a juicy bird, gravy, cranberry salad, green beans almondine, creamy mashed potatoes, brown-sugar-baked acorn squash, buttery corn pudding studded with corn kernels; a home-made, lattice-topped strawberry-rhubarb pie, pumpkin pie, and Nick's favorite, a French silk pie. Of course we made a few meals out of leftovers, too (turkey noodle soup for dinner, pie for...breakfast). (I wish I had photos, but the two I hastily snapped at the table were quite blurry, in an attempt not to ruin every meal with photography.)

One of the unaccounted-for nights, Nick's sister and I decided to stick to the fall theme and made butternut squash ravioli. She had never folded dumplings and I had never filled won ton wrappers with cheese before, but the result was magical. We tossed the ravioli in brown butter with sage, sautéed mushrooms, and toasted walnuts. Other than the wrappers sticking together slightly since our timing was a bit off (going from boiling water to boiling butter), Em and I were pretty happy, and they went perfectly with the rest of our Thanksgiving leftovers.

~


(Brown-) Butternut Squash Ravioli


1 large butternut squash
1 T thyme
1-2 t crushed rosemary
1 t sage
2-4 T olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 pint ricotta cheese
1 c sharp cheddar or Parmesan cheese, shredded
1 package dumpling wrappers (filling makes enough for two packages of dumpling wrappers; half recipe serves about 6)
1 egg + 1 T water
8 T butter (it's Thanksgiving!)
1 T vanilla Greek yogurt
1 1/2 T fresh sage leaves
4-8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 c toasted walnuts

Roast butternut squash: Preheat oven to 400ºF. Chop squash into 1" cubes and toss on a lined baking sheet with olive oil, salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, and sage. Bake for 30 min. to an hour (depending on your oven and how uniform your chunks are) or until fork-tender. As soon as squash is ready, mash to a creamy consistency. Let cool slightly, Add ricotta, shredded cheese, taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

Fold dumplings: Beat egg and water together. Scoop 2 t - 1 T (depending on the size of your wrappers) into the middle of the square (or circle). Use a clean finger to brush egg wash around half the edge of the wrapper and pinch edges tightly together. Err on the side of too little filling so the ravioli doesn't burst when you boil it.

Cook dumplings: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook ravioli in batches until they just float (takes no time at all). Ideally, you'd do this after the butter is ready so you can toss them in right away to prevent sticking. Otherwise carefully lay them out (in as much of a single layer as possible) as they cook in batches.

Make sauce: Melt 1 T butter in a pan and sauté sliced mushrooms until caramelized, about 5 minutes (minimally disturbed). Season with salt and pepper, and remove from pan. Melt the rest of the butter in the pan and add sage. Put Greek yogurt (Em's secret ingredient to making everything taste richer) in a small cup or ramekin and set aside. Bring butter to a low simmer and let brown for a few minutes. When it's about there (maybe 3-4 minutes on carefully watched heat), take some of the hot butter (a couple spoonfuls) and mix quickly with the yogurt to warm/melt slightly. Carefully add back to the browning butter and whisk vigorously to incorporate. Be careful -- depending on the yogurt's fat content, your speed of whisking, and correct planetary alignment, you may get little chunks of yogurt floating. Trust me, it will still be delicious, and once you toss everything together it's truly not noticeable except a lovely hint of round creaminess that makes you stop and say, "Hm, what is that?"

Toss dumplings with brown butter sauce, top with toasted walnuts and mushrooms, and serve immediately.