Just as Oprah loves bread, I. LOVE. PASTA. Honestly, I could eat it everyday and I have to make a conscious effort not to. But on those days I indulge, I don’t hold back. As I was thinking of fall and fall ingredients I wondered how to incorporate mushrooms into a pasta dish. A mushroom sauce would have been easy to whip up, but I felt the urge to push myself to do something I had not done before… make ravioli!

Now I guess I should tell the whole truth. I have made ravioli once before, and it was easy enough, I guess. However, it was very messy and the pasta just did not turn out like I intended, so I hung up my pasta chef hat and stuck with the boxed brands. When I decided to try it again I scoured Pinterest, as I do before trying new recipes, to see how other people made it. I kept stumbling upon recipes where people made the ravioli with wonton wrappers! Now this I had to try. While it’s not traditional pasta, the wonton wrappers taste and feel just like pasta and the are pre-made!! This took away all the stress of making my own pasta, and helped me find a fun and easy way to impress my dinner guests! It’s also a fun way to get your dinner pals or kids involved in the cooking! Have them assemble the raviolis and then they feel like they are a part of making the whole dinner. Everyone has a good time!

For the stuffing I decided to use chicken sausage as I knew pairing pasta with butter sauce would be heavy and I wanted to keep the stuffing on the lighter side. You can use any type of sausage or stick with the veggies only! I was feeding two grown men, so I had to use a protein else they wouldn’t come to dinner. Really the stuffing can be whatever you want, just make sure to cook any veggies or meat before stuffing the raviolis because the pasta cook time is only about two minutes.

After browning the chicken sausage in a cast iron, set aside on a paper towel to absorb the extra grease. In the same pan add the garlic, shallots, thyme and mushrooms. I used a wooden spoon to really scrape up the leftover chicken bits from the bottom of the pan while cooking the mushrooms. This may sound weird, but this is where the flavor goodness resides!

Pulse the mushrooms in a Nutri Bullet, or food processor, until the mix is part creamy part chunky. I used two types of cheese for the filling, ricotta and fresh grated parmesan. I must say I think it is important to grate your own parm vs. buying the pre-grated because the cheese retains some of it’s moisture and flavor. Then mix in the sausage and prepare the wonton wrappers.

I laid out half of the wontons squares on a baking pan, but any clean flat surface works. Scoop a tablespoon of the filling to each square. Now take the other half of the wontons and, one by one, brush edges with egg and lay on top. Press down on the edges, trying to press out any air pockets from the center. I believe it worked best to let the egg dry a little, really sealing in the mixture before dropping raviolis into boiling water. In the meantime make the brown butter sauce.

In the same pan add olive oil and butter. Once butter begins to bubble add individual sage leaves, reducing heat allowing the sage leaves to crisp up. This is a really easy and tricky part of the process. I really don’t have any advice besides watch the sauce to make sure it doesn’t burn. Add chopped walnuts to a clean pan and toast them for 2 minutes. Once butter has turned a golden brown color remove sage leaves and lay on a paper towel. Add toasted walnuts to butter sauce and turn off heat.

Time to start dropping the raviolis! Only drop 4-5 ravioli into pot so they don’t stick together. Cook for about 2-3 minutes or until they begin to float to the surface. Remove individually with a slotted spoon or spatula and lay in a covered baking dish to rest until all ravioli are cooked.

I served 5-6 pieces with walnuts, (fresh grated) parmesan and a drizzle of the brown sage butter sauce. Garnish with crispy sage and dig in! Using the wonton wrappers makes this dish an easy and impressive weeknight recipe that gets everyone involved! Bon Appetite!

If you try my Sausage and Mushroom Ravioli with Sage Brown Butter Sauce, I’d love to share your photos! Tag us on instagram @fridgetofork, and be sure to let us know how it turned out in the comments below.