Homemade Pumpkin Cavatellis with Wild Mushrooms, Pancetta & Butternut Squash in a Brown Butter Sage Sauce

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This inventive recipe is a family favorite. It brings back recipes of rolling cavatellis almost every other week. This is very seasonal, nice and fall like. This is one of the many things I made on Sunday for my charity event in which all proceeds are going to my local Rhode Island Community Food Bank. Thanks for all who supported this!!

Your 14 year old child chef and food blogger,

Catherine

Recipe:

1 butternut squash

mushrooms (you can really use any kind of mushrooms. I suggest using a variety of wild mushrooms such as trumpets and oysters ) 

10 sage leaves 

1 stick of butter 

1 cup of chicken stock (homemade or canned)

parmesan reggiano or pecorino ramano freshly grated cheese

salt  

freshly cracked pepper

pancetta

olive oil 

freshly grated nutmeg

fresh parsley

For the Pancetta:

Cut the pancetta thick and in small cubes. Cook the pancetta in a pan with a little pepper and olive oil. Cook it until crispy. Drain the pancetta on a paper towel but keep some of the fat in the pan.

 For the Mushrooms:

Wipe your mushrooms in order to get the dirt off. Don't wash it because like a sponge, the mushrooms will absorb the water. Cut all of the different mushrooms into strips. Season with salt, pepper, fresh parsley and olive oil. Cook for about 15 minutes at 400 degrees until they shrivel up and are darker in color. 

For the Butternut Squash:

Peel, deseed and cube the butternut squash. Cook it in the pancetta fat with salt, pepper and about a 1/4 tsp. of freshly ground nutmeg. Cook until it is soft but not mushy. 

For the Pasta:

In a pot of boiling salted water, boil your homemade pumpkin cavatellis. (See recipe below) If you do not want to make your own there are some great cavatellis brands out there, however I encourage the satisfaction of making your own!! Cook your pasta while you make the sauce. 

For the Sauce:

In a saute pan on high heat melt your butter with a drizzle of olive oil. Add the sage and let your butter literally brown. Take out the sage with tongs and add chicken stock. The chicken stock (if it isn't hot; which IS fine!)  will bring down the temperature of the pan so just let it reduce. Add freshly ground black pepper and freshly grated nutmeg. Once your cavatellis float-about 5 to 8 minutes take them out and put them directly into the sauce. Add the squash, mushrooms and pancetta. Put the pasta and veggies into a serving dish and top with freshly grated parmesan reggiano or pecorino romano cheese. Enjoy!!

To make the homemade Pumpkin Cavatellis:

3 cups of semolina flour plus a dusting to help keep from sticking

1 cup of fresh mashed and cooked pumpkin or canned

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. olive oil

1/2 tsp of freshly ground nutmeg

about a cup of water a little less or more depending on the moisture in the dough and pumpkin

Step 1: Put all of the dry ingredients plus the olive oil in a mound. With your fingers make a well in the middle.

Step 2: Add the pumpkin in the middle of the well.

Step 3: Mix together and add the water bit by bit. Making sure that it is moist but not sticky and watery.

Step 4: Need and form into a mound like this. Let it rest for about 5 minutes with a little water on top and a paper towel.

 Step 5: Cut into pieces like this.

 Step 6: With your palms roll each of those pieces (above) into snakes like this (below).

 Step 7: Cut the pieces (above) into pillows like this (below). By the way the semolina flour is what is helping the dough from sticking and will assist in drying it. So keep your area well floured!!

Step 8: Using the back of a fork push the pillow pieces down with your thumb making an imprint in the cavatellis.

 Step 9: Keep pushing to get an imprint! If you mess up just roll it into a ball and try again.

 Step 10: Your product should be the indent of a fork on the outside and a cave indent for the sauce on the inside. Make sure not the crowd the pan as you go because you don't want the pasta to stick together. Hence the semolina flour. Let it dry before cooking. You can make this in advance and even freeze it.

To see me making the sauce please watch the following video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAoNWPVBH2w

Happy Eatings