Timpano Recipe on Food52 (2024)

Serves a Crowd

by: Camille Becerra

November4,2013

4

4 Ratings

  • Prep time 1 hour 30 minutes
  • Cook time 5 hours
  • Makes one timpano

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Author Notes

Just like they made it in The Big Night —Camille Becerra

  • Test Kitchen-Approved

What You'll Need

Ingredients
  • For the sauce
  • 3 tablespoonsolive oil
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 anchovies (optional)
  • 1/2 cupred wine
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 1 16-ounce can San Marzano tomatoes
  • 3 large very ripe tomatoes
  • 2 teaspoonsdried oregano
  • 1 pinchsalt
  • To assemble and bake the timpano
  • 1 batch pasta sauce
  • 1 poundricotta
  • 1/4 head escarole, grilled (optional)
  • 1 raw egg
  • 1 pinchsalt
  • 1 pinchchili flakes
  • 4 cupsdried ziti, penne, or rigatoni, cooked
  • 1 poundmeat such as sausage, pancetta, or meatballs
  • 4 medium boiled eggs, depending on the size of your mold
  • 1/2 poundmozzarella
  • 1 poundcooked lasagna sheets (or enough to cover your mold and top)
Directions
  1. For the sauce
  2. Chop onion and sauté with anchovies in oil till translucent. After 10 minutes add the white wine, and cook until it reduces by half. Transfer to a blender along with the garlic and purée till smooth, then return to pot.
  3. Purée the canned tomatoes in a blender and pass them through a sieve, then add to the pot.
  4. Cut whole tomatoes into wedges, purée in a blender, and pass through sieve. Add them to the pot.
  5. Simmer for 3 to 4 hours.
  6. ** For larger timpanos, make a double batch of this sauce.
  1. To assemble and bake the timpano
  2. Chop grilled escarole. Mix it together with your ricotta, a raw egg, a pinch of salt, and a pinch of chili flakes. Pipe this mixture into your cooked pasta tubes using a pastry bag.
  3. Preheat your oven to 350° F. Butter or grease an oven-proof mold really well. I used a smaller mold (6 inches in diameter and 4 inches tall).
  4. Line the mold with the cooked pasta sheets, making sure you have enough hanging over to cover the top once you're finished adding layers.
  5. Line the bottom with the ricotta-stuffed pasta.
  6. Add the tomato sauce, then tap the mold down onto the counter to make sure the sauce settles. The less pockets of air in the timpano, the better its structure will be.
  7. Top with meat. Tap down again. Top with a thin layer of mozzarella.
  8. Add another layer of the ricotta stuffed pasta and tap again. Top with the egg, then another layer of sauce. Tap down again.
  9. Top with mozzarella. Top with another layer of ricotta-stuffed pasta. Top with sauce, and tap one last time.
  10. Cover top with remaining pasta sheets and egg wash to seal.
  11. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour -- a larger mold will need more time in the oven.
  12. Allow to cool for 15 minutes, run a small off set spatula or thin knife around the side to make sure it’s not stuck to the mold.
  13. Cover with a plate and flip over to unmold. Do so as gently as possible. Allow another 10 minutes before cutting into it.

Tags:

  • Pasta
  • Italian
  • Anchovy
  • Escarole
  • Mozzarella
  • Beef
  • Serves a Crowd
  • Entree

See what other Food52ers are saying.

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17 Reviews

Napabrown April 28, 2016

I am wondering about technique for cooking the pasta sheets without ripping them? I know that lasagna sheets can be used, but the wide sheets look great. I just can't picture how to boil them without tearing the sheets. Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Joan G. February 25, 2016

Very similar to several I just made for my "Big Night" party. Dinner and a movie related to food in some way always works for us. Wish I had this recipe before, I would have liked adding escarole to the dish. Another time. Thanks for the newest addition to my recipe list.

Heidi -. February 27, 2015

Well, this needs to happen...

Gret January 20, 2014

If it was bland, you didn't use proper sausage. Use a good Italian sausage.

David January 20, 2014

Made this yesterday. Oiled a Creuset pot, cooked the meat before assembling and used red wine. Turned out fine and not greasy at all. Rather bland overall though. Makes about 4 decent sized portions.

Corinne November 10, 2013

You can likely lightly oil the mold by taking a paper towel, putting some oil on it and wiping the inside of the mold. It should be fine.

The white wine mentioned in the instructions is likely an error. In my experience, red sauce is made with red wine.

David M. December 28, 2013

Thanks Corinne. Red Wine seemed appropriate considering the red gravy.

Gret November 10, 2013

How come we're not getting any answers? Really want to make this & want to know whether to oil the mold, or will it be greasy?

igor November 10, 2013

does the meat need to be cooked before assembly?

Gregory G. November 10, 2013

I have great friends in Saugatuck, MI make this for a New Years Eve 'Big Night' and had all their guests pitch in with the prep and of course wine drinking during the day. A great community effort!

Gret November 10, 2013

Did you oil the mold?

Gret November 10, 2013

Also did you precook the meat, as we do when making lasagne?

Melody November 11, 2013

Absolutely oil the mold.. When it is done is should be able to swirl.
Cook the meat. I make mini meatballs. The recipe I use is from Stanley Tucci's mother's cookbook. Since I use the metal dishpan I go to my local pizzaria and they run my dough through there rollers.

cat November 6, 2013

Do you use white or red wine? Red is listed in ingredients but white is mentioned in the directions. Please clarify. Thanks.

Britt S. November 6, 2013

Any suggestions for a good meat substitute to make a vegetarian version? I'd prefer not to use soy meat - maybe eggplant...?

Gret November 5, 2013

Should we oil the mold (pot) before putting in the pasta sheets? Going to try this soon, as would love to serve this New Years Eve.

meh November 5, 2013

Roughly how many servings does this recipe yield?

Timpano Recipe on Food52 (2024)

FAQs

What was the Italian dish in the movie The Big Night? ›

It took me all day to make timpano, the special Calabrian pasta dish that serves as the (epicurean and narrative) centerpiece to Big Night, the 1996 movie co-directed by Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott.

What is the dish in Big Night? ›

A timpano is an Italian dish of pasta, tomato sauce, roasted vegetables (and sometimes meat), hard-boiled eggs, and cheese shaped into a dome, covered with dough and baked. It was made famous in America in the Stanley Tucci movie Big Night, and is a dramatic centerpiece dish for any meal.

Where did timballo originate? ›

Originating in Lazio, there are many variations on the filling of this timballo, but what differentiates it from the others is the pasta shell is replaced with ham slices. There is also the crustless Timballo di Anelletti made by packing Anelli pasta directly into the pan.

What do Italians eat for dinner every night? ›

Most dinners consist of a salad, the primo (pasta or soup dish) and the secondo (meat or fish dish). The Italians also enjoy cooked vegetables like artichokes, eggplants, mushrooms, spinach and zucchini, which they either buy at the market or grow in their gardens.

What did they make in the movie Big Night? ›

It's a pasta pie shaped like a drum with a crust, and "one of the most important things in the world," according to passionate chef Primo, as he first introduces timpano in the film Big Night.

What region of Italy is timpano from? ›

What was the point of the movie Big Night? ›

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said of the film, "'Big Night' is one of the great food movies, and yet it is so much more. It is about food not as a subject but as a language--the language by which one can speak to gods, can create, can seduce, can aspire to perfection."

What does il timpano mean? ›

The Italian, Spanish and Portuguese words for eardrum. The singular of Timpani.

What is the oldest pasta shape? ›

The earliest pasta shape was a simple sheet, which was treated more like bread dough. It probably didn't have the toothsome quality – known as “al dente” – associated with Italian pasta today, and would have been similar to unleavened matzo bread with sauce on it.

Who invented ziti? ›

With conflicting accounts of its origin, Ziti is a Southern Italian pasta from either Campania or Sicliy. In Southern Italy, the term “zita” refers to a young bride, as this pasta shape is usually served up at weddings.

What is the star pasta shape called? ›

Barilla is one popular brand that sells tiny star-shaped pasta, traditionally called "stelline," under the name pastina. Though nearly any shape will do, generally, pasta smaller than about 1/4 inch qualifies as pastina.

What did the Italian police cook for the old lady? ›

They... Italian police officers summoned to a lonely elderly couple's home cooked them a plate of spaghetti to cheer them up. The four officers knocked on the door of Michele, 94, and his wife Jole, 89, after neighbours reported hearing them crying.

What is the Italian stomach lining dish? ›

Tripe (trippa in Italian) is a classic dish in regional Italian cuisine made from the edible lining of the stomachs of ruminants, primarily cows. In Lombardy, tripe may also be the first part of the small intestine of a veal calf or a steer. It is a simple dish, but it requires many hours of cooking time.

What do Italians eat on la Festa della Repubblica? ›

Another dish widely savored on Festa della Repubblica is bucatini con le sarde. The pride of stunning Sicily, this pasta dish is traditionally prepared with a finely chopped mixture of local sardine and anchovies.

What dish did Stanley Tucci make in Milan? ›

In episode four of Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, the American actor travels to the county's north, including the financial and business capital Milan, where he learns how to make cotoletta milanese, risotto milanese, pizzocheri and polenta.

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