Recipe to Riches? Unfortunately for me it was more like Recipe to Red Wine Binge.

I cooked, I went, I lost :(

Soooooooooo....I dared to try out for this recipe to riches contest yesterday.  If you are a true foodie like moi you should have heard about it as its been all over Food Network for the past couple months.  Basically its an amateur chefs version of American Idol.  You enter a recipe and compete against other people to win some cash and the privilege of having your dish made into an actual product for Presidents Choice.  After alotttt of waiting yesterday, I was finally put infront of the judges (Laura Calder being one - someone I usually watch most mornings on French Food at Home), and within seconds the dream was crushed.  stomped on, pulverized, punched in the face, and basically raped.   Something I was shamefully unaware of - apparently butter sauces can not be used for frozen entrees (one of the prerequisites for this competition as it would be turned into a PC frozen entree). TAKE NOTE PEOPLE - if you find yourself in a similar situation at some point in your cooking lives - stay weary of the butter sauces!

So there it was - butternut squash, ricotta & sweet honey ravioli in sage BUTTER with orange zest - pushed aside for something a little more PC friendly.  I took my loser tush down to the lobby bar post rejection with some of my fan squad and drowned my sorrows in my best friend of all - booze.

If any of my lovely readers would care to boost my shot ego back up - feel free to try this original recipe of mine that was sadly dismissed by Laura Calder and co.

Butternut Squash, Ricotta & Sweet Honey Ravioli with Sage Butter & Orange Zest

Servings: makes approximately 18 ravioli

Ingredients for the filling:

1 medium butternut squash (approximately 1 ½ lbs)

Extra virgin olive oil

Kosher salt

Freshly ground pepper

4 tbsp honey

250g ricotta cheese

½ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp cinnamon

Ingredients for the dough:

3 ¼ cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting

4 large eggs

Ingredients for the sauce:

8 tbsp unsalted butter

16 fresh sage leaves

¼ tsp Kosher salt

2 pinches of brown sugar

Zest from one large orange

Garnish:

Sprinkle of finely chopped parsley

Fresh orange zest

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Cut the butternut squash length-wise and remove seeds with a spoon.  Place both halves, face up, on a baking sheet and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and 3 tablespoons of the honey.  Season generously with salt and pepper and then roast for 1 hour until tender.

When the squash is done, remove from the oven and scoop out the flesh into a bowl.  Add the ricotta cheese, nutmeg, cinnamon and the final tablespoon of honey and mash.  Taste for seasoning and set aside.

To make fresh dough for the ravioli, pour your flour into a small hill and then create a well in the centre.  Crack the eggs into the center and gently beat them together.  Using a fork, slowly incorporate the flour from the walls of the well into the eggs.  Be sure not to break the walls of the well.  Once the dough has reached a consistency where it does its not runny, use your hands to begin kneading the dough with the palms of your hands, slowly adding more flour as needed.  Work the dough for 3-5 minutes until it is one cohesive ball.  Wrap in saran wrap and let the dough rest for 20 minutes at room temperature.  Use a pasta machine to roll out the dough into thin sheets (the first setting).

Use a round pastry cutter (or the top of a water glass if you don’t have one), and cut rounds out for the ravioli.  On a lightly floured surface, scoop 1 tsp of filling into the center of a ravioli round and using your finger, gently boarder the edges of the round with some warm water.  Place a second round over the first and, pressing all the air out, seal up the edges into a neat, circular ravioli!  Repeat this process until you run out of rounds.

Cook the ravioli in salted boiling water for about 2-3 minutes (they will start to rise).  At the same time, melt the butter in a pan at medium heat and then add the sage, salt, orange zest and brown sugar.

Plate the ravioli and spoon out some of the butter sauce on each plate.