Home-Made Butternut Squash Tortellini

Our hand-made tortellini (spot Ash's ones in the bottom right corner! He delegated the rest of them to me after these deformed efforts!)

The finished dish

This recipe is really yummy & also good for you as the gyoza dumpling dough is lower in calories than fresh egg pasta. I promise you won't be able to tell the difference!

Ingredients:

Dough:
300g strong white flour
1/2 tsp fine salt
200ml boiling water

Filling
500g butternut squash
1tsp olive oil
1 red onion
3tbsp quick-cook polenta
25g parmesan
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
salt & pepper

Sauce
3 tbsp half-fat creme fraiche
handful basil leaves
2 big handfuls of baby spinach leaves
Chilli flakes

First make the dough. Sift the flour & mix in the salt & then stir in the boiling water with chopsticks until a ball forms. If the dough seems too wet add a bit more flour. If it's too dry add more water. Cover the dough & leave it to stand & cool for an hour. 
Preheat the oven to 200c. Peel the butternut squash & cut it into 4cm chunks. Toss them in oil, season & then roast in the oven for 25 minutes. Finely slice the red onion. Toss it in the remaining oil & add to the squash after the 25 min cooking time & cook for a further 10 minutes. 
Allow the veg to cool for 5 minutes, then add to a blender with the polenta & blitz it to make an orange puree. Set aside to cool for an hour, then stir in the parmesan & nutmeg. 
Place the dough on a lightly floured surface & knead for 5 minutes until it is very elastic. Roll the dough out very thinly & cut out circles using a pastry cutter - you can't re-roll this dough, so get as many as you can out of it in one go. 
Take a disc of dough & lay it flat in the palm of your hand. Place a heaped teaspoon of the filling in the middle, dip your finger in water & brush it around the edge. Fold the pastry over & press the edges firmly to form a semi-circle. 
Bring a saucepan of water to the boil. Drop the tortellini gently into the hot water & cook for 5 minutes until the pasta is tender. Drain & then tip the pasta back into the saucepan. Add the creme fraiche, basil & spinach leaves. Season well, add chilli flakes, then toss together over a low heat until the spinach wilts.