If you’re like me and you hate to shop, then you might end up like me and think, “Oh crap, it’s 6:30pm and there’s nothing to cook!” That happened to me last night. If you have some butternut or other pumpkin (winter squash) in the fridge (or freezer) and some wonton wrappers — you’ve got dinner.
I could knock myself over the head for forgetting to photograph half of this recipe and I apologize that the inny bits are missing. I’ll do my best to explain it all. I set the wrappers out to thaw while I made the filling.
I had a fresh butternut pumpkin (squash) and I chopped it into chunks, drizzled it with a bit of olive oil, sprinkled sea salt and roasted it for about 30-45 minutes. It all depends on how hot your oven is and how much you want the edges caramelized. If you’re in the US you can buy frozen squash and half of the work is done for you. It won’t be roasted but it would be quicker.
Then I chopped an onion and half a clove of garlic and cooked them in a bit of oil til it was translucent. I put the pumpkin, onion, garlic and 1/2 cup of grated cheese (I used gruyere but you could use anything) in the food processor. For added creamyness I added a few hunks of cream cheese and whizzed it all to make a thick filling.
I used my nifty cheap fold over dumpling maker but you could just make 2 really big raviolis per person and you’d be yards ahead of me. Next time that’s what I’ll do. Wet the edges of the wonton, put a teaspoon of filling in the center and seal the edges. If you’re making bit ones, wet the edges of one wonton, put a tablespoon of filling in the center and top with another wonton wrapper and seal the edges. You don’t want any of the pumpkin goodness to ooze out or all the hard work goes down the drain. Set these aside while you make the sauce.
You could use any creamy sauce you wanted. I’ll try an alfredo sauce next time. This time I made a pumpkin sauce because that was the mood I was in. I steamed some pumpkin til it was very well done and added cream, a couple tablespoons of butter, some cracked pepper and and then used the hand whiz stick to liquidize it. I added salt to taste and a a handful of chopped parsley. I sauteed some mushrooms I had in the fridge that needed to be used and I toasted some pine nuts and shaved some parmesan cheese.
Then I tossed the wonton ravioli into salted boiling water for just a minute or so, drained them and popped them in a bowl, poured over the sauce, added a few mushrooms and sprinkled over the pine nuts and cheese.
I had no regrets from not doing the food shopping like I should have. This was a wonderful light meal and I didn’t feel so guilty when I had a hot fudge sundae for dessert.
I will admit that my husband is not overly fond of pasta. He came into the kitchen and said, “So, looks like we need to go food shopping tomorrow, right?” Right.
Tonight’s the royal wedding. TV coverage starts at 6pm where we are. Wait til he sees me flattening white bread with a rolling pin and making cucumber sandwiches just to get us in the mood. After the pasta meal he’s looking for a substantial dinner. I’ve been food shopping and we’re having crumbed lamb cutlets but let’s just let him bump his gums complaining about the cucumber sandwiches for a while.