Casey is great, especially since I KNOW when he likes something I make, no I mean really, really, really likes it. He gets this look, his eyes start to glisten then slightly roll back in his head, his jaw drops and drool gathers at the corner of his mouth and unlike the rest of the time he is actually at a loss for words. Of course when this doesn’t happen when I make something it can be alittle saddening/annoying, but that was definately not the case here. He loved it. How could he not?

Whilst ravioli stuffed with pumpkin is really good, I think I liked the stuffed shells better. These shells had more pumpkin which made them more lucious, they were easy and really pretty to look at. Please make the sage sauce as it just picks the flavour up and will make you swoon. The sauce is probably not that healthy… but you only need alittle.

Pumpkin Stuffed Shells

Ingredients
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 butternut peeled, seeded,diced
1/2 large fennel bulb diced
50 gms of pecorino grated
sour cream
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 large red onion
1/4 cup water
250gms large pasta shells
1 tablespoon olive oil to grease the baking dish

For sage sauce
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
small handful of sage leaves
1/4 minced red onions
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Baby spinach leaves to serve on

Pumpkin Filling
Melt butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat. Sauté squash and fennel with salt and pepper, stirring occasionally, until golden. Add shallots and water and simmer, covered, until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Cool vegetables, then purée until smooth and season with salt and pepper and stir through the cheese.

Preheat oven to 180C.

Cook pasta shells in a big pot of boiling salted water until just under al dente. Drain then run under cold water to cool. Drain well, then grease a large baking dish. Spoon aprox 2 dsps of filling into pasta shells. Line up on one layer on the tray. Top with a small dab of sourcream, sprinkle grated pecorino over the top.
Bake in the preheated oven until the top is golden about 15 mins

Just before the shells are ready make the sage butter sauce
Melt butter in a small frypan over moderately high heat until foam subsides, then fry sage leaves until crisp, about 3 minutes. Add onion to butter and cook, stirring, until shallot is golden and butter is deep golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Add lemon juice (butter will foam), then remove from heat. Stir in parsley and season brown butter with salt and pepper.

Put 7-8 shells on a plate lined with baby spinach leaves, drizzle with the sauce. Serve with a glass of red and amaze your friends!

BTW Don’t forget to sign up for Hay Hay it’s Donna’s Day #3!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 9th, 2006 at 1:17 pm and is filed under Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.