Quick answer: Roast 1 medium butternut squash (halved, cut-side down) at 400°F for 40 to 45 minutes until completely soft. Scoop out the flesh and drain in a fine-mesh strainer for 10 minutes, pressing gently — this step is critical. In a bowl, mash the drained squash with 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, 2 tablespoons good balsamic vinegar, 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, salt, and black pepper. Taste: the filling should be deeply savory with a subtle sweet-acid balance from the balsamic. Refrigerate until firm. Make fresh pasta dough: mound 2 cups 00 flour in a well shape, add 3 eggs plus 1 yolk and 1 tablespoon olive oil, beat while drawing in flour, then knead for 8 to 10 minutes. Rest 30 minutes wrapped. Roll each quarter of dough through a pasta machine to setting 5 or 6 — nearly translucent. Cut 3.5-inch rounds. Place a scant tablespoon of filling in the center of each round, brush the perimeter with egg wash, fold into a half-moon, and press firmly from the center outward to seal, pushing out any air pockets. Set on a semolina-dusted tray. For the sauce: melt 8 tablespoons unsalted butter in a wide skillet over medium heat, add 10 to 12 fresh sage leaves, and cook swirling until the butter turns deep amber and the sage is crisp — about 3 to 4 minutes. Add a squeeze of lemon juice to stop the cooking. Cook lune in heavily salted boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes. Lift with a slotted spoon into the sage brown butter and toss with 2 tablespoons pasta water. Serve immediately with shaved Parmigiano and — the finishing touch that defines the dish — a whole dry amaretti cookie finely grated over each bowl. At Babbo the pasta course runs $26 to $36; this batch feeds six for roughly $14.
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Babbo Pumpkin Lune (The Famous Fall Pasta, Made at Home)
Babbo's legendary fall pasta: half-moon ravioli stuffed with roasted butternut squash, balsamic vinegar, and Parmigiano — no ricotta — tossed in crispy sage brown butter and finished with grated amaretti. The dish that sells out every October service at Greenwich Village's most iconic Italian restaurant, made at home for $14.
Hard
Prep: 1 hr (including pasta rest)
Cook: 45 min
Total: 1h 45m6 servings
~$4.50/serving
Prep1 hr (including pasta rest)
Cook45 min
Total1h 45m
Servings
6
At home~$4.50/serving
vs
Restaurant~$20.25/serving
You save ~78%
The Story Behind the Recipe
Babbo, the Greenwich Village Italian restaurant opened by Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich in 1998, earned its cult status on pastas that upended expectations. The pumpkin lune became the restaurant's signature fall pasta, ordered season after season by regulars who timed visits to catch it. "Lune" is Italian for little moons: the half-circle shapes arrive in a pool of amber brown butter with fried sage leaves and a snow of freshly grated amaretti — Italian almond cookies — dusted over the top at the table. The name took on extra resonance every October, when the dish coincided with harvest moons, Halloween, and the first real chill in the city.
What makes the filling different from any other squash pasta is the absence of ricotta and the presence of balsamic vinegar. Most home squash ravioli recipes add ricotta for bulk and creaminess, which dilutes the squash flavor. Babbo's filling is just roasted squash, Parmigiano, balsamic, and nutmeg — more concentrated, more savory, more interesting. The balsamic provides the acid that balances the squash's sweetness in a way that lemon cannot. The amaretti grated over the finished dish adds a final bitter-almond note that ties everything together. Babbo closed in 2022 following ownership changes, then reopened in October 2025 under restaurateur Stephen Starr. Pasta courses run $26 to $36 per plate. This recipe, which follows the authentic filling closely, costs roughly $14 to feed six.
Nutrition Facts
Per serving (6 servings)
Calories415
Total Fat19g
Total Carbs48g
Dietary Fiber3g
Sugars6g
Protein13g
Sodium340mg
* Estimated values based on standard recipe preparation. Actual values may vary.
Ingredients
Filling
Fresh pasta dough
Sage brown butter
To finish
Instructions
💡
Pro tip: This recipe tastes even better the next day. The flavors need time to meld together in the fridge.
❄️
Storage: Keeps in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Freezer-friendly for up to 3 months.
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Babbo Pumpkin Lune (The Famous Fall Pasta, Made at Home)
Babbo's legendary fall pasta: half-moon ravioli stuffed with roasted butternut squash, balsamic vinegar, and Parmigiano — no ricotta — tossed in crispy sage brown butter and finished with grated amaretti. The dish that sells out every October service at Greenwich Village's most iconic Italian restaurant, made at home for $14.
babbo · halloween · vegetarian · italian
🕑Prep1 hr (including pasta rest)
🍳Cook45 min
⏱Total1h 45m
🍽Serves6
⭐DifficultyHard
Ingredients
Filling
1 medium butternut squash (about 2 lbs / 900g), halved lengthwise and seeds removed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup (50g) Parmigiano-Reggiano, freshly and finely grated
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Fresh pasta dough
2 cups (250g) 00 flour or all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
3 large eggs plus 1 extra egg yolk
1 tablespoon olive oil
Pinch of kosher salt
Semolina flour for dusting the tray
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water (egg wash for sealing)
Sage brown butter
8 tablespoons (115g) unsalted butter
10 to 12 large fresh sage leaves
Small squeeze of fresh lemon juice
Kosher salt to taste
To finish
Shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano
3 whole dry amaretti cookies (for grating tableside — 1/2 cookie per portion)
Fleur de sel (optional)
Instructions
1.Roast the squash. Preheat oven to 400°F. Rub the cut faces of the squash halves with olive oil and season lightly with salt. Place cut-side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Roast 40 to 45 minutes until completely soft — a skewer passes through with zero resistance and the cut face is deeply golden. Remove and cool 10 minutes.
2.Drain the squash. Scoop the cooked flesh into a fine-mesh strainer set over a bowl. Let drain for at least 10 minutes, pressing gently with the back of a spoon twice. This step removes the water that makes filling loose and causes lune to burst in the pot. Do not skip it.
3.Make the filling. Transfer the drained squash to a medium bowl. Add the finely grated Parmigiano, balsamic vinegar, and freshly grated nutmeg. Mash and stir until smooth — the filling should be thick, cohesive, and hold its shape on a spoon. Taste: it should be savory and complex, with a clear squash flavor balanced by the cheese and a faint sweet-acid note from the balsamic. Season with salt and black pepper. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes (up to 24 hours) until firm and cold.
4.Make the pasta dough. Mound the flour on a clean work surface and create a wide well in the center. Add the 3 eggs, extra yolk, olive oil, and pinch of salt into the well. Beat the eggs gently with a fork, slowly drawing flour in from the inner walls of the well. Once the dough comes together as a rough mass, set the fork aside and knead by hand for 8 to 10 minutes until smooth, elastic, and slightly tacky but not sticky. Wrap in plastic and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
5.Roll the pasta. Divide the rested dough into 4 equal pieces; keep three covered while you work. Flatten one piece into an oval and run it through a pasta machine at the widest setting, folding in thirds between the first 2 to 3 passes. Then run through progressively thinner settings — no more folding — finishing at setting 5 or 6. The sheet should be nearly translucent. Lay on a lightly floured surface covered with a clean kitchen towel. Repeat with remaining pieces.
6.Cut and fill the lune. Use a 3.5-inch round cutter to cut rounds from the pasta sheets. Keep them covered — they dry in minutes. Working one at a time: place a scant tablespoon of filling in the center of a round. Brush the full perimeter with egg wash. Fold into a half-moon, aligning the edges. Press firmly from the center of the curved edge outward to the tips, pushing out all air pockets. Run your thumb along the seam twice to be sure. Set on a semolina-dusted tray; don't let lune touch each other.
7.Make the sage brown butter. Set a wide skillet over medium heat. Add the butter and let it melt. Add the sage leaves — they should sizzle. Swirl the pan and watch: the butter will foam, the foam will subside, and the milk solids will begin to brown. Cook until the butter is deep amber and smells nutty — 3 to 4 minutes total. Remove from heat immediately and add the squeeze of lemon juice to stop the cooking. Season with a pinch of salt.
8.Cook the lune. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Salt heavily. Cook lune in batches (don't crowd) for 2 to 3 minutes until the sealed edges feel just tender when gently pinched. Use a slotted spoon to lift them directly into the brown butter skillet. Reserve 1/4 cup pasta cooking water.
9.Finish and serve. Return the skillet to low heat. Add 2 tablespoons pasta cooking water and toss gently to coat the lune in the emulsified sauce. Serve immediately in warm, shallow bowls. Top each portion with shaved Parmigiano, a fried sage leaf or two, and — the move that defines the dish — finely grate half a dry amaretti cookie over each bowl at the table. Add a pinch of fleur de sel if desired.
Notes
Babbo’s pumpkin lune is one of the most iconic fall pasta dishes in New York City — half-moon ravioli stuffed with roasted butternut squash, balsamic vinegar, and Parmigiano (no ricotta), tossed in crispy sage brown butter and finished with freshly grated amaretti cookie at the table. The dish sells out every October service at the Greenwich Village restaurant. This home version follows the authentic technique.
The filling has two moves that most squash ravioli skip. First: no ricotta. Babbo’s filling is roasted squash, Parmigiano, balsamic, and nutmeg — more concentrated and more savory than a ricotta-padded version. Second: draining the squash for 10 minutes before mixing is not optional. Roasted squash holds a lot of water; if you skip the drain, the filling is too wet to hold inside the pasta and your lune will burst in the pot.
The amaretti finish is what ties the dish together. A dry amaretti cookie grated over each bowl at the table — the way you would grate hard cheese or nutmeg — adds a burst of bitter-almond flavor that contrasts the sweet squash and rich butter in a way nothing else does. Do not skip it.
Shortcut: Round wonton wrappers in place of fresh pasta cut the active time to about 40 minutes. Keep them under a damp cloth as you work; they dry and crack within minutes.
🥗
Make It Healthier
Love Babbo Pumpkin Lune (The Famous Fall Pasta, Made at Home) but want a lighter version? Try these simple swaps:
✓Reduce the butter in the sauce from 8 tablespoons to 5 and add 1 tablespoon of the starchy pasta cooking water to help emulsify — you save about 45 calories per serving and the sauce still coats the lune well.
✓Drain the roasted squash thoroughly (10+ minutes in a strainer) before mixing the filling — removing excess moisture keeps the filling dense and flavorful and prevents the lune from bursting.
✓Replace up to half the 00 flour with whole-wheat pastry flour for added fiber; the dough will be slightly stiffer but rolls and handles fine through a pasta machine.
✓Use aged Parmigiano-Reggiano and grate it finely — the intense flavor means you need less of it, cutting sodium without losing the savory depth.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the copycat Babbo pumpkin lune recipe?
The authentic Babbo pumpkin lune uses a filling of roasted butternut squash, freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, a small amount of good balsamic vinegar, and nutmeg — no ricotta. The drained squash is mashed with the cheese, balsamic, and nutmeg, then chilled until firm. It gets folded into half-moon fresh egg pasta shapes (lune means moons in Italian) and cooked in boiling salted water for 2 to 3 minutes. The sauce is classic sage brown butter — unsalted butter cooked until the milk solids turn amber with fresh sage leaves fried in the pan. The dish is finished at the table with shaved Parmigiano and a dry amaretti cookie grated over the top.
What are amaretti cookies and where do I buy them?
Amaretti are small, hard Italian almond cookies with a distinctive bitter-almond flavor, made from sweet almonds combined with either bitter almonds or apricot kernels. The version you want for this recipe is the dry, hard variety — not the soft, chewy amaretti morbidi. The classic brand is Lazzaroni Saronno, which comes in red tins of individually wrapped cookies and can be found at Italian specialty stores, Whole Foods, Dean & DeLuca, many specialty grocers, and on Amazon. You grate one cookie per portion over the finished pasta, much the way you'd grate nutmeg or hard cheese. The bitterness and almond flavor contrast with the sweet squash and the richness of the brown butter in a way that ties the whole dish together. If you cannot find them, a substitute is 1 teaspoon of almond flour plus a tiny drop of almond extract per portion — it approximates the flavor, though not the texture of fresh-grated cookie.
Why no ricotta in the filling — isn't squash ravioli usually made with ricotta?
Most home and restaurant squash pasta recipes add ricotta because it's easy, affordable, and adds a mild creaminess that makes the filling pliable. Babbo's pumpkin lune omits it deliberately. Without ricotta, the squash flavor is the entire filling: concentrated, earthy, slightly sweet — not diluted by a neutral dairy backdrop. The Parmigiano adds savory depth and helps bind the filling, and the balsamic adds the acid that balances the squash's sweetness. The result is a filling that is more intensely flavored than most squash ravioli you have eaten. The tradeoff is that the filling is drier and firmer, which means draining the roasted squash is more important — wet squash without the absorptive ricotta will make the filling too loose to hold inside the pasta.
What does balsamic vinegar do in the squash filling?
Balsamic cuts the natural sweetness of roasted squash with acid and a small amount of sourness, creating balance. Without any acid, the filling tends to read as one-note sweet; even a small amount of salt and nutmeg does not fully counteract it. Balsamic also adds a subtle depth — a faint caramel-and-wood-aged quality — that brightens the squash and makes the filling taste more complex than the ingredient list suggests. Use a real balsamic: aged Aceto Balsamico di Modena (not balsamic vinegar of Modena) or a decent mid-range brand. Cheap balsamic that is mostly thickened grape juice will add sharpness without the depth. You are using only 2 tablespoons in the whole filling, so it disappears as a distinct flavor but lifts everything around it.
How do I prevent the lune from bursting during cooking?
The two main causes are trapped air and wet filling. For air: when folding and sealing the half-moon, press from the center of the curved edge outward toward the two tips, actively pushing any air pockets toward the open edges before they seal. Run your thumb firmly along the full seam twice. For wet filling: drain the roasted squash for a minimum of 10 minutes in a fine-mesh strainer and press gently. The squash releases a surprising amount of water as it cools. If the filling is loose or wet, it generates steam during cooking that blows open the seams. If you prepare the filling ahead and refrigerate it, it will firm up further overnight — cold, dense filling is far easier to seal without bursting than warm, wet filling.
Can I make the lune ahead and freeze them?
Yes. Place assembled lune in a single layer on a semolina-dusted parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze solid (about 2 hours). Transfer to a zip-top bag and store for up to 3 months. Cook directly from frozen with no thawing — add them to boiling salted water and cook for 4 to 5 minutes instead of 2 to 3. Do not thaw first. The filling, if made ahead, keeps refrigerated for up to 3 days before you assemble the lune. Unrolled rested pasta dough keeps refrigerated for 1 day; rolled and cut rounds dry out within an hour — cut and fill immediately.
Can I use wonton wrappers instead of fresh pasta?
Yes. Round wonton wrappers (or square ones cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter) work well as a shortcut. Keep them covered with a damp cloth as you work — they dry and crack within minutes of exposure to air. The texture of the cooked pasta will be chewier and slightly more slippery than egg pasta, but the filling and sauce are the stars of this dish and more than compensate. This path cuts the total active time to about 40 minutes from over an hour. Cook wonton-wrapper lune for 2 to 3 minutes, same as fresh pasta; they cook faster than fresh pasta dough would suggest.
Is Babbo open, and is the pumpkin lune still on the menu?
Yes, Babbo is open. It closed in 2022 in the aftermath of Mario Batali's exit from the restaurant group, was sold to Starr Restaurants in February 2025, and reopened in October 2025 at its original address — 110 Waverly Place in Greenwich Village — under restaurateur Stephen Starr. The relaunched menu is new and changes seasonally, and the kitchen has seen turnover (opening chef Mark Ladner departed in September 2026), so the classic Batali-era pumpkin lune is not guaranteed on any given menu — check the current Resy listing before you go if you're hoping to order it. The pasta course runs about $26 to $36. This recipe recreates the original dish at home regardless of what's on the menu this week.
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