You guys know I’m a fall girl and I love ALL THINGS PUMPKIN! Yup, I’m all about pumpkin spice and everything nice and I have no shame in declaring my pumpkin-spice obsession! 

One of the things I love about pumpkin is its flavor versatility – it is equally delicious enjoyed sweet or savory and doesn’t depend on “spice” to deliver flavorful goodness. While I tend to consume pumpkin more on the sweet side, I look forward to eating pumpkin ravioli during the months it is available at the grocery store. Pumpkin ravioli is a seasonal delight that combines all the best flavors of the fall season while providing a hearty meal that satisfies. 

If you cannot find pumpkin ravioli at your local grocery store, you can substitute butternut squash ravioli instead or use a mix of both ravioli varietals. If you want to round out this meal and take advantage of more seasonal yumminess, I recommend serving my Fall Festive Ravioli alongside my Autumn Pear Salad. 

Fall Festive Ravioli

Makes: 6-8 Servings

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: About 40 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ lbs of ground sausage* (pork or chicken, whichever is preferred)
• 4 fat cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 small-to-medium size sweet yellow onion, diced or thinly sliced
• ½ TBSP fennel seed
• Pumpkin or Butternut Squash Ravioli** (about 45oz)
• 4 TBSP butter
• 20-25 fresh sage leaves
• EVOO
• Salt and pepper
• Freshly grated parmesan (optional)

Let’s do this!

1. Start by peeling the onion and garlic cloves. Rinse to clean. 
2. Over medium heat, swirl about a tablespoon of EVOO in a large pan or skillet. Slice the onions into thin slivers (half-moons) or a small dice and add to the pan. 
3. Cook the onions for about 12-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions reach a nice golden color. Season with salt and pepper. 
4. While the onions are cooking, start boiling water in a large pot or Dutch oven. Once the water reaches boiling point, add in some salt to season the water (this is an important step because we’ll be using the pasta water as part of our “sauce”). 
5. Return to the onions and add in the ground sausage (or squeeze the sausage out of its casing if you’re using sausage links), breaking it apart as it is cooking to crumble the sausage. The total cook time for the sausage should be about 10-12 minutes. Once the sausage is nearing its final cook time, season it with salt, pepper, fennel seed, and garlic, stirring to incorporate the flavors. When the sausage is done cooking, lower the temperature to a simmer. 
6. Depending on the brand of your ravioli, the cook time could be anywhere between 2-6 minutes (or upwards of 10 minutes if using frozen ravioli). Plan the cook time of your ravioli in coordination with making the brown butter sage sauce (step #7).
7. In a small pan or skillet, heat 4TBSP of butter over medium heat. [You will most likely be working on steps #6 and #7 simultaneously.] Once the butter melts and begins to brown (about 3-4 minutes), add in the fresh sage leaves and let them fry for about 2 minutes. The sage leaves will wilt and get a little crispy, but make sure they do not burn. Season the brown sage butter with salt and pepper and remove from heat. 
8. Once the ravioli is cooked, reserve about 1/3 cup of the pasta cooking water. Drain the rest of the pasta and return to the pot along with the reserved cooking water. 
9. Pour in the melted brown butter (with sage leaves) as well as the cooked sausage and onions, and gently stir to coat the pasta (emphasis on the gentleness – you don’t want to break or rip the delicate pillows of ravioli 🙂 ). 
10.  Portion out the ravioli onto plates or in bowls and top with a sprinkling of freshly grated parmesan cheese, if desired. 
11. Enjoy!

*I prefer to use chicken sausage but half the time I make this meal using pork sausage. Try to choose a sweet Italian sausage (pork or chicken) if you can find it. If you want to amp up the flavor profile, look for an apple or sage flavored sausage, typically found at the butcher’s counter alongside other gourmet sausage links. A garlic basil infused sausage would also work well in this dish. 

**Either pumpkin or butternut squash ravioli work great in this recipe or even a combination of both! I use Trader Joe’s Honey Roasted Pumpkin Ravioli (which is seasonal so I buy extra packages in the fall and freeze so I can make this meal during the winter months) yet I have also used the butternut squash ravioli found at Costco. The TJ’s ravioli comes in 9oz packages so for this recipe I used 5 packages to produce the 6-8 dinner portions posted. Depending on the brand of the ravioli you use, I recommend doing the math on your desired serving quantity and buying accordingly to accommodate the amount of ravioli you’ll need.