I Heart Shaped Ravioli You!!

Heart Shaped Mochi Treats

Valentines Day, you either love it or you hate it...  Whether you are single or with that special someone, it's a good time to celebrate love (or the possibility of it).  You could make this for your sweetie or for a girls night in!  Last year I cooked the Brazilian a gourmet dinner of Filet Mignon with wine reduction sauce and twice baked potatoes with a dessert of heart shaped mochi (chi chi dango).   



Me and my valentine...

This year I decided to go with a heart theme and make heart shaped ravioli!  My friend "MC" and I teamed up on this project together one Saturday and got to work assembling these bad boys for our boyfriends... 
Heart Shaped Butternut Squash Ravioli
adapted from Iowa Girl Eats

12 oz Butternut Squash, baked
3-4 Tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
salt and pepper
1/4 onion
1/4 tsp cinnamon
chili pepper flakes
1-2 pkg won ton wrappers, (depends on how much filling you can fit in your heart)
heart shaped cookie cutter

1.  Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.  Line cookie sheet with foil and place butternut squash on sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.   * I was lazy so I bought the pre cut butternut squash cubes from Trader Joe's.  If you use a whole butternut squash cut the ends off and cut in half and bake flesh side up.*  Bake for 30-40 minutes, until squash is tender enough to pierce with a fork.  Let squash cool. 

Bake till fork tender

2.  Chop onion and garlic and saute onion in olive oil with salt and pepper till soft.  Add in garlic and saute for another minute.

3.  Place onion, garlic, butternut squash and cinnamon in a blender/food processor.  Pulse until all ingredients are combined and smooth.  *Depending on the strength of your blender you might need to work in batches or add a splash more of olive oil*  Place filling in a bowl and season if needed.

4.  Take won ton wrappers (circle or square are fine, choose the shape that your heart shaped cookie cutter works best with) and cover with a moist paper towel.  Using cookie cutter start cutting out heart shaped dough.  *Remember it will take 2 hearts to make 1 ravioli*

Ravioli work station, keeping the won ton wrappers moist.

5.  Spoon approximately 2 teaspoons of filling on to each wrapper.

6.  Moisten the edges of the won ton wrapper with the filling, lay second heart on top and press down to seal with your fingertips.  *  I used a spray bottle filled with water and gently sprayed the ravioli bottom.  This was much quicker than the old school way of dipping your finger in a bowl of water and tracing the outline of the shape*

Seal that yumminess in!

7.  Place each completed ravioli on a wax paper lined cookie sheet (we don't want those babies to stick!).  Pop them in the freezer so they can firm up and seal.  *Trust me it makes them so much easier to work with if you freeze them for a bit*

8.  These cuties cook up the same way as frozen gyoza/mandoo.  To cook, heat up a large skillet and add in 1-2 Tbsp olive oil and add in frozen ravioli once pan is hot.  Let the bottoms of the ravioli brown slightly and add in 1/3 cup water to pan and cover with a lid.  Let 90% of the water evaporate (2-3 minutes) and remove lid from pan to let the rest of the water evaporate.

9.  Gently shake pan to loosen the ravioli.  Using a slotted spoon or spatula remove the ravioli from pan.

You can serve these babies with a brown butter bacon sauce, or even just some good old olive oil, salt and Parmesan cheese!  You can make these with any filling too, MC made hers with Italian sausage, garlic and a three cheese blend.

Be sure to toss your fillings in a blender so they are easier to work with

MC's sausage ravioli!

Both of these came out great!  We cooked some up to "taste test" them, but we ate them up so quick we forgot to take pictures... :(  The great thing about these is they freeze up well, so you can eat these ravioli weeks later as well.  Hope you and you're sweetie enjoy!