Timpano Should Be a Staple for Thanksgiving

Many of us have thrown off this soothing blanket of tradition and habit to ask the big question: How has turkey – a meat that can be easily dried and often described as “tasteless,” – become a cake of resistance to what should be the holiday season’s most voracious culinary event? I’m not saying turkey can’t taste good when cooked right, but it will always taste like turkey and the options are wonderful. Italian-American families have the perfect workaround for this problem of seasonal dullness: a casserole of lasagna. At their discretion, your guests can eat it as a side dish or take the main portion with a slide. But this year we are moving from lasagna to the first pasta dish that really turns a blind eye, at least in Hollywood: Timpano.

The creation and discovery of tympano includes all the ingredients needed for a vibrant celebration of love on Thanksgiving – teamwork in preparation, dramatic reversal , oh and oh disclosure. This is a dish to be tied up and tossed up. The beauty of tympano is that you don’t have to give up family recipes. The tympano I cooked includes my grandma Tootsie’s meatballs and sauce, my Aunt Carmella’s spinach pie, and my Uncle Tony’s rustic pizza. Do I know how similar it is to casting for The Sopranos ? Indeed I am.

What is tympano?

To quote the character of Tony Shalhub from the classic 1996 Big Night food festival: “Tympano is a pasta with a special crust … What’s inside? The most important thing in the world. ” In Italy, where it is more commonly referred to as “timballo”, a domed shell made from pasta, rice or eggplant is filled with an elegant layer of pasta, meat, cheese and vegetables that vary from region to region. Stanley Tucci ‘s widely discussed family recipe includes family stew, meatballs, hard boiled eggs, genoa salami, and pasta. I put a family interest in it by adding a layer of fried spinach, which is usually found in Aunt Carmella’s spinach pie, and replacing the hard-boiled eggs with a rustica pizza filling – a mixture of diced Italian deli meats and cheese tied together with an egg. looks like a quiche.

It’s not easy to cook with any imagination, but it’s not that difficult if you plan ahead and recruit a few people. This is not just one dish, it is a covenant of Italian dishes that have vowed to coexist together under cover of pasta shells for your enjoyment. Each layer requires its own recipe and set of hands, culminating in a terrifying moment of anticipation when someone physically flips the dish on its base before cutting it open. It is best to open the tympano in front of an audience of hungry guests, where your hard work will be rewarded with well-deserved praise.

Big plan

It takes time to cook tympano, but it shouldn’t be stressful. My biggest tip is to plan ahead. Most of each tympano puzzle piece can be done one to four days before the dish is completely assembled and baked. Rustica pizza filling and fried spinach can be cooked and refrigerated up to four days before baking. Raw meatballs can be cooked, shaped, and refrigerated for up to a day. Pasta dough can also be refrigerated for up to one day, although I would recommend doing this during the day so it doesn’t get too tough or roll out.

Separating tasks and marking them in the days leading up to Thanksgiving will save you a lot of anxiety. And then, when everyone can come together to assemble and lay out each ingredient in layers in a pasta shell, there will be a stressful moment when you think that your many beautiful layers cannot fit inside. But don’t worry: they will do.

For a person who ordered the “Rustica” pizza filling:

Ingredients ( Note: No additional salt required) :

• 1/4 lb. aged wire, sliced ​​to an inch
• 1/4 lb pepperoni, diced to an inch

• 1/4 lb genoa salami, diced to an inch
• 1/4 pound ham, chopped to an inch
• 1/8 lb prosciutto, sliced ​​to ¼ inch
• 7 ounces chopped low moisture mozzarella
• 1 pound ricotta
• 10 large, beaten eggs (Note: Many rustic pizza recipes favor more ricotta and fewer eggs, but you will need extra eggs to help create a strong bonding layer for the bottom of the tympano.)
• ½ teaspoon pepper

Hopefully you can’t wait to grab some jerky and cheese snacks because you absolutely deserve to try them while cooking. My advice when buying meat is to ask the butcher to cut it into 1/4 inch slices. This will make your job a lot easier because the rest of what you will be doing is shuffling and mixing. When you’ve finished chopping the salami, prosciutto, ham, pepperoni, and provolone into 1/4 inch cubes, combine the meat and cheese in a bowl with 10 beaten eggs and peppers. (If you’re doing this beforehand, cover and refrigerate.)

For those who are being asked meatballs and gravy

For meatballs ( feel free to double this amount if you love meatballs in the family) :

• 1 pound ground beef
• ½ lb. pork
• ½ lb. minced veal
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 cup bread crumbs soaked in ½ cup milk for a few minutes
• ½ cup Parmesan
• ¼ cup parsley, chopped

• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper

For the sauce:

• 2 28-ounce cans of San Marzano tomatoes

• 1 can of 14-ounce trade winds or tomato puree
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Red pepper flakes
• 3 teaspoons olive oil
• Fresh basil

One of the many secrets to making juicy and tender meatballs is milk, so start by soaking your bread crumbs in it. Combine ground beef, pork and veal in a large bowl with eggs, Parmesan cheese, minced garlic, parsley, salt and pepper. Take off these rings and watch and grasp them with your hands. Once everything is combined, add the soaked bread crumbs and stir. Roll the mixture into evenly portioned 1 to 1 1/2 inch balls. (If you do this ahead of time, you can refrigerate raw meatballs for up to 24 hours.)

When you’re ready to make the sauce, move on to the next step by browning the meatballs. Heat a cast iron skillet or nonstick skillet until hot, then add oil. Fry the meatballs on all sides, turning them frequently. You will most likely need to do this in three or four servings to avoid overloading the pan.

To make the sauce, heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium to low heat. Add the diced onions, red pepper flakes and any additional herbs and cook until the onions are translucent. Add minced garlic and cook until flavorful. Add the San Marzano tomatoes, trade wind or tomato puree and a glass of water and season with salt. Dip the sautéed meatballs in the marinara and simmer for 1 hour.

For those who need to fry spinach

Roasted Spinach Ingredients:

• 4 bunches of spinach (sachets can be used)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt, but keep trying and seasoning as needed
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
• Zest of half a lemon
• Red pepper flakes

Be grateful, my friend: you have the simplest task. Rinse the spinach and discard the tough stems. Preheat the largest skillet you have and add a huge sip of olive oil. Add chopped garlic and red pepper flakes to taste. Go ahead and add the spinach. Feel free to add in portions, waiting until it starts to fade to add more. Cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until the spinach is completely dry. Season with salt and pepper to taste, add a pinch of ground nutmeg and lemon zest. Next, the most important step: squeeze the excess moisture out of the beautifully wilted spinach. Pour into a strainer and press down with a wooden spoon until you have removed as much of the excess liquid as possible.

For the person entrusted with the crust

Ingredients:

• 4 cups flour (preferably 00)
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons olive oil
• 3 teaspoons of water

This task (ideally) should be given to the strongest person in the room, but remember: if grandmothers with pasta can do it, so can you. Form a mound of flour by digging a crater for eggs, olive oil, and salt. Place the wet ingredients and salt in the flour and beat with a fork until the ingredients combine and form a shaggy dough, adding additional tablespoons of water, one at a time, if necessary, to completely blend all the flour. Knead for 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth but not sticky. Cover and let stand for half an hour. Then roll the dough out on a floured surface and form it into a large circle, about 1/16 inch thick and wide enough to fit in a Dutch oven with about eight inches of dough hanging down at the sides (approximately 28 inches for a 5 liter Dutch oven). Don’t be discouraged if it takes a while. The dough may become stiff and bounce slightly, which is normal.

Put it all together

In addition to the ingredients listed in each of the above sections, you will also need the following items and ingredients for the building process:

• Butter
• 7 ounces low moisture mozzarella
• 8 ounces fresh mozzarella
• 2 lb ziti cooked in half the time indicated
• Dutch oven or enamelled tympano dish
• Rolling pin
• Large cutting board

It’s time. Preheat the oven to 350 ℉ and assemble a squad. Cover the inside of the Dutch oven with a healthy blend of butter and olive oil, because the last thing we want is to get your lovely creation stuck. Unroll the pasta sheet in the Dutch oven, pressing gently to the edges and making sure there is enough to cover the filling on top. Start by filling the tympano with a layer of pasta, lining them up in rows and then with a layer of meatballs. Then add a cup of sauce and place a fresh serving of mozzarella between the loosely spread meatballs, and then place a layer of half low-moisture chopped mozzarella. Repeat this step to create another layer. Make sure you fill in as much space as possible. Spread the toasted spinach in an even layer, don’t be afraid to stroke it and make sure it’s nice and even. Finish with a final layer of rustic pizza topping. Fold excess dough on top on all sides, making sure there are no open spaces for ingredients to drain out.

Bake without a lid for 45 minutes, until a beautiful golden brown crust forms. Then bake, covered, for another half hour, or until the internal temperature reaches 125 degrees. It will be infinitely tempting to cut it open right after taking it out of the oven, but it is very important to let it rest for an hour. You are now ready. Have a proxy flip your tympano onto a large cutting board in front of your adoring crowd of hungry onlookers. Let it sit for about 20 more minutes for the ingredients to settle while it sits and looks as tempting – like a mouth-watering centerpiece – before slicing it up and enjoying your triumph.