Timballo di pasta e melenzane, Sicillane (V) Pasta and Aubergine Bake
A Timballo di pasta e melenzane, Sicillane as above is served as a primo plato on a Sunday, apparently.
A timballo is a really easy pasta dish that can be made in many ways, this version is Sicilian as it is their tradition to have aubergine/melenzane encasing pasta with either a bechamel sauce and lumps of cheese or tomato sauce with vegetables inside. A timballo casing may also be made out of pastry in an ornate mould making it a sort of really posh large macaroni pie, not available at Greggs.
Prep aubergines by slicing, soak in salted water for an hour then rinse, squeeze and dry, brush with a little olive oil and air fry till browned, 20 mins or so.
Make a really good tomato sauce made with fried onions, garlic, tom puree, tinned toms and fresh basil, set half a cup aside, then add some frozen peas and fresh sliced asparagus, add grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, season and mix. You could add chopped ham also.
Boil some rigatoni or your favourite pasta and cook a few minutes short of cooking time, in a sieve rinse to shock the pasta under the cold water tap, which will help keep it's shape, then mix with the sauce.
If you have enough aubergine you can wrap it with the slices like an ornate parcel before baking and serve it as a centre piece for a posh do, but if for a quick tea do as I did just put your filling in a dish and top with aubergine slices and then some sauce, and more grated cheese and then bake at 180 for 30 mins or so.
This is such a simple dish that can be very elegant but even with my basic recipe I found the ingredients to be really flavourful, next time I'll cook it in a loaf tin and serve it as a thick slice either hot or cold as a starter.
Buon Appetito
