Squash and Spinach Roll

The Squash Celebrated In Recipes From Ancient Times To The Present by Arneo Nizzoli
Cookbook 40, Recipe 2 (Total 83)

I love butternut squash ravioli if it isn't made with brown sugar. Squash is usually sweet enough on it's own and it's so disappointing to order a squash dish in a restaurant only to find it tastes of brown sugar with a hint of squash. I'm always on the look out for pasta squash dishes without brown sugar or amaretto cookies.

Did I like it? The lemon zest made this dish bright and happy. The fact that it happened to taste good with my wine made it all the better. I would like to try two variations on this dish: combine both fillings and serve as a ravioli; try it with a different pasta dough and see how it affects the delicacy of the roll. Happy lesson today: Squash + lemon zest = delicious.

Recipe: Dough: Place 1.5 cups of flour on the counter, sprinkle some salt over it, make a well and add 1 egg and 1.5 T milk - mix with a fork and form into a dough. Refrigerate until ready to roll out.
Squash filling: Combine 250g of the cooked squash, zest of one lemon, 2 T grated Parmesan, nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste.
Spinach filling: Melt 1.5 T butter in a pan and add 5oz chopped spinach - cook until wilted. Place in a bowl and add 150g ricotta cheese, 2 T grated Parmesan, nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste.

Assemble: Run a kitchen towel under cold water and ring out. Roll the dough out into a length that will fit into your largest pot of boiling water (my roll just squeaked by so I made a note to pay attention to that). Top with squash and then top with spinach - avoiding the edges. Roll up the pasta and roll the pasta roll in the damp kitchen towel. Secure the ends with (unflavored) floss and boil in salted water for 18 minutes. Refrigerate. Cut into 1/2 slices, brush with browned sage butter, top with grated Parmesan cheese and broil until bubbling and just slightly browned.