When I first came over here, I was discussing holiday traditions with O and the different things we ate. He mentioned that his aunt made something that he called timballo and said how delicious it was. Since I always like to try new things, especially when they’re traditional dishes, I tried to pry the ingredients out of him, but all he could say was that it had lots of things in it.
That wasn’t any help, and it just made me think of the timpano that they made in The Big Night, one of my favorite films by the way. I really couldn’t have been further from the truth.
He apparently really liked this timballo because he mentioned it on other occasions. What I was able to gather was that it was a type of lasagne al forno made with broth. He said it was then served with a ladle of broth over it.
Now I was really intrigued. I had never heard of baked lasagna made with broth, so I was determined to get the recipe. Unfortunately, we don’t see Zia Gilda as often as we’d like, so I had to wait. Recently though, we saw her several times for family get togethers and I asked her for the recipe which she repeated for me a couple of times.
Of course, it’s not written down and she just told me the ingredients, so I had to tinker a bit to find the right proportions. Let me tell you though, it’s delicious and now that I know how to make it, I’ll be making it more often. It takes a little work, but it’s definitely worth it.
Obviously, since it’s a type of lasagne al forno, you will need either homemade or store bought lasagna noodles. One thing I’d like to warn you about is that the lasagna noodles in the States are overly thick. Every time I have had lasagna made here in Italy, the noodles are very thin and there are several layers. It really makes a difference in the flavor. If you can’t make your own, you might try the Barilla dry ones, they’re much thinner. I’m going to assume you have a recipe for homemade pasta, I would say the best bet here is to go with 3 eggs, 300 grams of flour, a pinch of salt, and a tablespoon of olive oil and roll it very thin.
Ingredients
1 stewing chicken cut up
1 large onion
1 stick cinnamon
3 cloves
pinch of nutmeg
2 bay leaves
salt to taste
100 grams parmigiano cheese
400 grams scamorza (dry mozzarella)
6 hardboiled eggs
Directions
It’s best to cook your broth the day ahead. That way you can let it simmer for 4 or 5 hours to get it good and tasty. (PLEASE do not try to make this with canned chicken broth and canned chicken and don’t try to make broth with just chicken breast. It would not be the same.)
Place the first 7 ingredients in a large stock pot and cover it abundantly with water. The water is going to be cooking away over time, so make sure you have plenty to start with. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and allow to simmer for 4-5 hours. I usually do this the day before. Once it is done, remove the chicken, and strain the broth, putting it in the refrigerator overnight. Remove the chicken from the bones and cut or tear it into small pieces, putting it aside for when you are ready to “build” your timballo.
When you are ready to build your timballo, start reheating your broth. In the meantime, gather the rest of the ingredients – grate your parmigiano cheese, cut your scamorza (mozzarella) in small pieces, and slice your eggs.
Preheat your oven to 325.
Start building by putting two ladle-fulls of broth in the bottom of the pan, then a layer of lasagna noodles (overlap them, don’t leave any gaps), then a layer of parmigiano cheese, chicken, scamorza and eggs. Pour another ladle full of broth over all this, then start again with your pasta layer. Your final layer will be pasta, a few ladles of broth, with parmigiano and scamorza cheese on top.
Cover this with aluminum foil and put in the oven. You will cook it for a total time of 30 minutes, but after 15 minutes, remove the aluminum foil.
After 30 minutes, your cheese should be melted and the timballo will be ready to serve.
Serve in pasta bowls with a ladle full of broth over the top.
By the way, she mentioned that the recipe is from the Molise region.
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This is really intersting and it looks delicious. If I were going to use dry lasagna noodles would I boil them first?
KC´s last blog post..Death of a Sausage
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Mary Reply:
April 27th, 2009 at 9:12 am
I think it depends on the package. Some of the noodles say not to boil them first. If you get the Giovanni Rana fresh ones (which I use fairly often), you don’t have to boil them first. They’re good too. I use two packages of them to make a pan of lasagna.
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Very unique! Thanks for sharing the recipe
maryann´s last blog post..Just a Little Behind
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Mary Reply:
April 27th, 2009 at 9:13 am
It’s yummy. If you get a chance, you should give it a try.
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The timballo from Teramo is very different. We use super thin crepes instead of lasagna noodles, there is no chicken just tiny meatballs, spinach, egg and bescamelle sauce…sometimes ricotta chese too depending on who is making it. We serve this at our restaurant http://www.lalocandapa.com if you are ever in the Philly area
Paola´s last blog post..Quick updates
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Mary Reply:
April 27th, 2009 at 9:14 am
Thanks Paola. My brother and sister-in-law live in Teramo and we often have scrippele ‘mbusse. She also uses the scrippele (crepes) to make lasagne, but not with chicken like you mentioned. I’ll have to try it sometime and the next time I’m in Philly I’ll stop in.
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With a ZIa by the name of Gilda, of course is going to be good!!
HA-Ha
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Mary Reply:
May 4th, 2009 at 10:19 am
Of course.
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I saved and printed this for my friend, at whose home I am staying in the US. There’s a somewhat similar Sardegnan dish made with Pane Carassau, but that’s so hard to find here. This is a much better choice for here. I reckon that having your recipe may be a comfort when her live-in Italian chef returns home? D’accordo?
Judith in Umbria´s last blog post..Americaland
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Mary Reply:
May 21st, 2009 at 9:51 am
Certo! I didn’t know there was a Sardegnan dish like it. One of these days I’m going to try something with Pane Carassau.
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Great recipes.
Kristal L. Rosebrook
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This is similar to a recipe that our family has – but I amost impressed that you also use the family’s secret ingredient: nutmeg! We grate ours rather than using ground nutmeg and the flavor in sauces is incredible!
Bonnie
Bonnie (valentinoswife)´s last blog post..Open Doors…Closed Windows
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Mary Reply:
June 5th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
I was surprised at how often nutmeg was used over here. I had always thought of it as a “dessert” ingredient, but it definitely adds something to the dishes.
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