Timpana - pastry covered maccaroni

This is a very popular Maltese dish - we would often eat it at Christmas or some other occasion. Its is a super carb dish so should be eaten in moderation! The addition of chicken livers really adds to the flavour - but can be omitted for the faint of heart! I would often make the pastry from scratch, using a semi-short recipe. I have come across some others that use puff pastry but that isn't strictly correct.

Ingredients

1.5 lb pastry

1.5 lb. macaroni

1 lb. minced meat(mixture of beef and pork)

4 oz. chicken livers

6 oz. crushed tomatoes

1 chopped onion

2 oz. grated Parmesan cheese

2 tbs tomato paste

1/4 pt. chicken or vegetable stock

2 hard boiled eggs(chopped)

1 aubergine, sliced very finely and fried or grilled.

4 eggs(beaten)

2 cloves of garlic

olive oil

salt and pepper

Method

Fry the onion and garlic.

Add the meat and liver, fry until cooked.

Add the tomatoes and the tomato paste. Cook for a few seconds.

Slowly add the stock and simmer till the meat is tender.

(or you can make a bolognaise of your choice)

Boil the macaroni (al dente!) drain and cool.

Add the sauce, aubergine, cheese and hard boiled eggs and stir well.

Roll the pastry , not too thick, and put into a greased dish with enough over the edges to cover the top

Pour the mixture and cover with the pastry.

Brush the top with beaten egg

Cook in a moderate to hot oven.

You could also just put the pastry on top, to minimize the carbs (ha ha ha) but the real recipe calls for the pasta to be completely wrapped in the pastry.

Timpana

Timpana is the ultimate pasta pie. Macaroni is cooked separately (to under al dente stage) and added to a rich bolognaise style sauce, often with chicken livers. With the addition of eggs, the mixture is cooked in a pastry case in either a deep dish or baking tray until its golden brown. This recipe uses bought puff pastry but I usually like to make it myself - its what we called a rough puff pastry, not as flaky but made with lots of butter!
This recipe can easily feed an army of people and it tastes just as good as leftovers the day after (if there is any left!)

Ingredients

500g puff pastry (frozen sheets)
500g  macaroni or penne
300g minced beef
300g minced pork
300g chicken livers, diced
300g bacon, finely diced
500g onions, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
150g parmesan cheese, grated
150g  cheese, grated (any other type)
7 eggs, beaten
200g tomato paste
200g tomato purée
500ml chicken or beef stock
150g butter
Salt and pepper

For glaze
100ml milk
1 egg, extra

Method
Preheat oven to 180˚C.

Sauté the onions and garlic in butter for 5 minutes.
Add bacon and pork mince, stirring well to separate.
Add beef mince and continue stirring, cooking for 10 minutes.
Add chicken livers  and cook for 5 minutes.
Add stock, mix well and bring to boil. Simmer for 20 minutes.
Add tomato paste and tomato purée.

While the sauce is cooking, cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until just undercooked.
Drain and mix with sauce, adding parmesan and tasty cheese.
Stir in beaten eggs.
Line a greased baking dish with the pastry, extending it up the sides.
Spoon in sauce and cover the top with another layer of pastry which has been pricked all over with a knife to let steam escape.
Beat together glaze ingredients and paint top of timpana all over.
Bake for 1 to 1 ½ hours.

Recipe adapted from one I found on an Australian site - There are more Maltese in Australia than there are in Malta!

Pesto

It's important to use pine nuts and not walnuts as some recipes state - the difference is amazing. This is a great Italian sauce that's best with pasta.

Making pesto by hand in a mortar produces the most authentic and delicious results but a food processor on a low setting can be used to gently and minimally chop leaves before proceeding.

Delicious tossed with pasta, pesto also makes an excellent topping for pizza. Try a little served along with grilled chicken or drizzled over slices of ripe summer tomatoes and fresh mozzarella.

Ingredients

¼ cup pine nuts

2 cups tightly packed basil leaves

2 garlic cloves, lightly smashed, peel removed

Coarse sea salt

6 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

2 tablespoons freshly grated pecorino romano cheese

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions

Place pine nuts in a medium skillet and heat over medium-low heat.

Cook, occasionally shaking the pan back and forth over the heat, until nuts are toasted, 6 to 8 minutes.

Transfer nuts to a plate to cool completely.

Rinse basil and gently, but thoroughly, pat dry with paper towels.

Place in a processorwith cooled pine nuts, garlic and pinch salt.

Use the food processor on a low setting to turn basil into a paste.

Add both cheeses into mixture to combine.

In a slow and steady steam, add oil, keeping processor on lowest setting (as if you were making mayonnaise).

Pesto is best used the same day but keeps, its surface covered with a thin layer of olive oil and tightly covered, chilled, for 3 days. You can also hermetically seal it in a jar.

To dress pasta, toss with hot pasta (just cooked and drained), add a tablespoon or two of butter and toss again. Serve at once.