As many of you may know from my Amalfistyle Blog, I have a deep love for Italian cuisine and I am an avid viewer of Italian cooking shows, including Masterchef Italia. In a recent episode, the magic of the Gattopardo timbale, specifically the version created by chef Ciccio Sultano, was showcased. Ciccio Sultano, a two Michelin-starred chef from the "Duomo" restaurant in Ragusa, introduced his Gattopardo timbale to the contestants. This dish, a traditional recipe of aristocratic Sicilian families, gained fame from Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's novel - The Leopard - Il Gattopardo and also the famous Lucchino Visconti Movie "Il Gattopardo". It is quite complex and involves numerous steps, featuring layers of shortcrust pastry, artisanal macaroni with ragù, chicken livers, ham, hard-boiled eggs, and béchamel sauce.
The Gattopardo's Timballo | Ciccio Sultano
Ingredients for 6 people:
400 g of puff pastry; 400 g of large anelletti or artisanal maccheroni; 2 hard-boiled eggs; 4 chicken livers or 100 g of foie gras; 400 g of long black eggplant; 150 g of shelled peas; 20 g of black truffle; Ragusano DOP cheese.
For 6 Timballos: 4 pork ribs; 4 cubes of pancetta with rind, each weighing 70 g; 2 chicken wings; 200 g of sausage;Fennel seeds; 3 bay leaves; 1 sprig of rosemary; 10 basil leaves; 100 g of onion; 1 celery stalk; 4 garlic cloves; 200 g of triple concentrated tomato paste; 1 liter of tomato puree; 500-1000 ml of still water; 80 ml of extra virgin olive oil; 1 glass of white wine. For the meatballs: 300 g of medium-lean ground beef; 1 garlic clove; 30 g of chopped parsley; 50 g of cheese
150 g of breadcrumbs; 1 egg; Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. For the puff pastry: 250 g of all-purpose flour; 15 g of yeast; 60 g of butter; 60 g of milk; 1 egg yolk; 8-10 g of salt; 30 g of sugar
Preparation:
For the meatballs: Mix all the ingredients together, form meatballs weighing about 20-30 g each, and fry them in a pan with a little Sicilian extra virgin olive oil. Place them hot in a baking dish. They are also excellent as an appetizer.
For the sauce: Take the cooked meatballs, clean and chop the vegetables, sauté them in extra virgin olive oil, add all the meat, lightly brown it, and deglaze with white wine. Once the wine is well cooked, add the tomato paste, let it brown and absorb. Stir with the meat and then add all the other ingredients except the meatballs. After 1 hour, add the meatballs and finally, after another half hour to an hour, the sauce is ready; taste for salt. Once ready, let it cool and cut the meat with a knife. Use what is needed for the timballo.
For the puff pastry: Combine the flour with the sugar, pinch the butter into the flour, make a well in the center, and mix the yeast with milk at 25 degrees. Put all the ingredients in the well except the salt, and work it until smooth, then add the salt so it doesn’t damage the yeast. Let the dough rest under a woolen blanket. Once risen, after about an hour, roll out the dough.
Assembling the timballo: Line a timballo mold (8-9 cm in diameter and 8-10 cm high) with the puff pastry. Further, line it with slices of fried eggplant, thin slices of black truffle, one slice of egg, and add the dressed pasta, diced Ragusan cheese, and a 20-30 g meatball. Close the mold with a top disk 2 cm larger than the mold diameter and seal by crimping with your fingers. Brush with egg yolk, pierce with a fork, and bake in a static oven at 220 degrees, top and bottom heat. In this recipe, custard is also included. Once cooked, remove from the oven and serve alongside the mixed festive sauce.
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