I made Timpano for the first time last night, a dish I first read about on The Food in My Beard. It’s like an Italian pie, filled with all the cheesy, savory Italian dishes you love. The great part about this dish is you can riff on it any way you want.
I still follow recipes quite a bit, but I’m trying to get better about cooking from feel. I just start cooking and do what I think is right. Sometimes it works out well, sometimes…it’s chalked up to a learning experience. People don’t trust themselves enough in the kitchen. Recipes are often created for print, for revenue. It’s often the case that an interesting recipe is just a base recipe and technique, with variations applied at different phases. Learning the fundamentals will allow you to come up with your own variations and interesting dishes, and will make you a better cook. That’s what I’m working on. There is a great article on this topic with Thomas Keller in Food and Wine, I highly recommend reading it.
Anyways, this was a lot of fun, though a lot of work. Here are the steps involved:
- Make the sauce (San Marzanos, garlic, onion, shredded carrot, olive oil)
- Cook the pastas
- Pan fry the Italian sausage
- Create the cream sauce (onion, garlic, fresh herbs, flour, cream, milk)
- Toss the pastas in the sauces
- Make bread crumbs in food processor, soak in milk
- Mix the three meats with egg, parsley, Parmesan, bread crumbs
- Poach the meatballs in some reserved red sauce
- For eggplant and boneless chicken thighs – dredge in egg, bread crumbs, cheese, parsley, pan fry
- Roll out the puff pastry, fill as desired
- Cook for 40-45 minutes, let it rest for 10 minutes
It was as stupifyingly good as it looks. The only thing I would have done different is take the pastas out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before I was ready to fill the pastry. The cold pasta kept the whole dish from being warm enough inside when the pastry was done cooking.
The cook time could be cut down significantly if you purchased some store bought sauces and bread crumbs, but I love spending an afternoon in the kitchen, listening to music, and drinking wine(s). Then of course, sharing the food with friends and family is great. Best Saturday in a while.