Pumpkin Lasagne (or Ravelloni*)

It smells of autumn everywhere.

Colorful leaves, frosty nights and flying kites. And of cause pumpkins... Everywhere.

You can't miss them, so go and grab one...

Around 10 years ago, one of my best friends and I mixed up several recipes and made pumpkin cannelloni. We really enjoyed it, but it was a mess to fill the store-bought cannelloni. Pumpkin spread everywhere... and we thought, next time we will just make lasagne. Same taste, less mess.

Nowadays I remembered the nice taste and decided it is time to recreate this dish. But this time I wanted to make it with self-made pasta. I did it and it was delicious, but it was a lot of work and also a huge mess (but fresh pasta tastes really nice). And I thought again "Why not just make a lasagne with the pumpkin mash and the white sauce? Same taste, but less mess"

So I recreated it as a lasagne. My leftover pumpkin was almost the same weight (390gr) and I still had half of the cheese spread.

What can I tell you, it's the same taste, but less mess and less preparation time (as long as you make it with store-bought lasagne plates). But since I already documented all steps for the fresh pasta and the ravioli making, I wanted to share this with you too.

Maybe next time I will make it as lasagne with fresh pasta plates, and it will even be better, who knows...

*Ravelloni (half ravioli, half cannelloni)

Step 1: Pumpkin Lasagne: Ingredients and Tools

Ingredients:
Pumpkin Filling:

• 400gr Hokkaido pumpkin
• 2 Onions
• 1 Garlic Clove
• 200ml vegetable broth
• oil
• grated cheese
• Salt, pepper, ground nutmeg

Cheese Sauce:

• 300ml milk
• 100gr cheese spread herbs
• 3Tbs flour
• Salt, Pepper

Tools:

• kitchen scale
• mixing bowl
• chopping board
• sharp knife
• baking pan
• 1 big pot
• 1 small pot
• stirring spoon
• hand blender

Step 2: Prepare the Pumpkin Puree

1. Scoop out the pumpkin seeds and chop the pumpkin into cubes.
2. Cut and dice the onions, peel the garlic clove.
   Heat some oil and start sauteing the onions
3. Add the pressed garlic.
4. Add the pumpkin cubes and the vegetable broth and let simmer for 15min.
5. Blend the cooked cubes until smooth.
6. Season the puree with salt, pepper, and ground nutmeg.

Step 3: Prepare the White Cheese Sauce

1. Heat the milk until boiling.
2. Add the cheese spread.
3. Fill the flour into a glass and add a little cold water, stir well.
4. Wait until the milk boils again and add your flour water. The heat will "activate" the flour and it will thicken the sauce.
5. Season with salt and pepper (and if you like some fresh garden herbs)

Step 4: Prepare the Lasagne

1. Take the oven pan and cover the bottom with white sauce.
2. Cover the bottom with a pasta plate. Since my baking pan is round I needed to break up the plates.
3. Cover with pumpkin puree.
4. Continue stacking with pasta, white sauce, pasta, pumpkin, pasta...
5. Continue until both pots are empty and finish with a layer of white sauce.
6. Cover with grated cheese and set into your oven.
7. Bake at 180°C /356F for approx. 25min.
8. Let sit for 10min before eating to allow some leftover liquid to be absorbed by the pasta.

Step 5: Enjoy Your Pumpkin Lasagne

Your lasagne is ready to be eaten by you and your favorite people.

Enjoy your taste of autumn.

Step 6: Ravelloni: Ingredients and Tools

Ingredients:

Pumpkin Filling:

• 400gr Hokkaido pumpkin
• 2 Onions
• 1 Garlic Clove
• 100ml vegetable broth
• Salt, pepper, ground nutmeg

Cheese Sauce:

• 250ml milk
• 100gr cheese spread herbs
• 1Tbs flour
• Salt, Pepper

Pasta

• 300gr flour
• 1 egg
• 1 ts salt
• Water

Tools:

• kitchen scale
• mixing bowl
• pasta machine
• chopping board
• sharp knife
• 1 big pot
• 1 small pot
• stirring spoon
• hand blender

Step 7: Prepare the Pasta Dough

1. Put the flour into the mixing bowl.
2. Add 1 ts of salt
3. Add some water and stir with a fork
4. Add more water (but peu à peu, so you don't drown it) until it clumps.
5. Start kneading the dough with your hands until it is smooth.
6. Set into your fridge until your pumpkin spread and white sauce are finished.

Step 8: Prepare the Pasta Plates

1. Spread some flour over the dough.
2. Knead a little and cut into 4 parts.
3. Knead one part again and process it with the pasta machine until the thinnest thickness.
4. Repeat with the other 3 parts.
5. Make sure to store the pasta plates separated from each other on a fresh dish towel, otherwise, they might stick together.

Step 9: Prepare the Ravelloni

The preparation of the pumpkin filling and the white sauce is the same as for the lasagne.

Actually, I wanted to create cannelloni, which is pasta in tube form, but while creating I realized, I could never ever boil open pasta. (Yes, that is obvious, but I was stuck with the wish for cannelloni).

So I changed to tub-ish ravioli, aka ravelloni.

1. Place one fresh pasta plate in front of you and spread some pumpkin puree on it.
2. Spread some water on the pasta dough, this will act as glue.
3. start rolling the pasta.
4. Close the pasta with a handle of a wooden spoon or some other non-sticky tool.
5. Separate the pasta by cutting the parts with a knife.
6. Voilà, ravelloni...
7. Put them into boiling salted water.
8. Wait until they show up at the surface and scoop the pasta

Step 10: Enjoy You Ravelloni

Serve the pasta covered with sauce and sprinkled with garden herbs.

Enjoy your taste of autumn. (And try to ignore the mess that is still in your kitchen and need to be cleaned after the dinner ;-) )