Baked Angel Hair Timbale
Based on a recipe from the cookbook Giadas Family Dinners, this recipe is a favorite in our household and makes a perfect dinner for guests. It is delicious, looks great, and it is easy to assemble in advance so you can be done when people arrive. It is great with or without the meat-- your choice.
Based on a recipe from the cookbook Giadas Family Dinners, this recipe is a favorite in our household and makes a perfect dinner for guests. It is delicious, looks great, and it is easy to assemble in advance so you can be done when people arrive. It is great with or without the meat-- your choice.
- 1 cup parmesan cheese grated
- 2 tbsp garlic minced
- 1/3 cup evoo
- 2 1/2 lbs japanese eggplants cubed
- 1/3 cup dry red wine
- 1 lb turkey sausage *i normally don't prefer turkey sausage, but here you need the lightness in the midst of the richness in the rest of the dish
- 3 cups marinara sauce preferably homemade
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 8 oz angel hair pasta
- 1 box puff pastry sheets (2 sheets), thawed
- 1 lb fresh mozzarella cheese diced, or left whole if you are using boccancini
- 1 bunch fresh basil leaves only, torn into pieces
- Carbohydrate 40.2884234333252 g
- Cholesterol 104.184326154004 mg
- Fat 27.1836106097562 g
- Fiber 7.61906897954842 g
- Protein 32.2226251428499 g
- Saturated Fat 9.47709906743622 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (405g)
- Sodium 1141.52851893026 mg
- Sugar 32.6693544537768 g
- Trans Fat 1.93916093769908 g
- Calories 539 calories
Step-by-step
- In a large saute pan, heat 1/6 cup EVOO and add half the eggplant, tossing to coat. Saute until the eggplant is softened and begins to brown lightly and becomes tender. Add half the garlic, continuing to saute until the fragrance of the garlic is apparent, then remove from the pan and set aside. Repeat with the remaining eggplant.
- In the same pan, saute the sausage with the red pepper flakes, breaking into bite-sized chunks and cooking until just slightly pink in the center. Add the red wine and deglaze the pan, reducing until the liquid is almost completely evaporated. Add sausage mixture to the eggplant, along with the marinara sauce. Toss to combine and allow to cool to room temperature.
- While the eggplant and sausage are cooking, cook the angel hair pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water. Cook the pasta very briefly (~1 min), taking care to preserve a bit of bite (you don't want it to turn to complete mush once it bakes). Drain and rinse with cool water.
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Roll out one pastry sheet on a floured surface to a 13 1/2" square-- you need it to be big enough to cover the bottom and sides of a 9" springform pan, with a little excess hanging over the rim for sealing the timbale with the top.
- In a large bowl, mix together the pasta, eggplant/sausage, basil and cheeses-- I find this is best accomplished using your hands to toss everything, which is partially why it is nice to let everything get down to at least tepid. Place the filling into the puff pastry-lined springform pan (it will be mounded up a bit, but that is fine). Roll out the second puff pastry sheet to about 13" and place on top of the mounded filling, turning it so the points of the top and bottom squares are not overlapping for easier joining. Join the top and bottom pieces of puff pastry. I do this by bringing the bottom up over the top pinching together and tucking in as I go around the pan, making a sort of braided pattern around the edge. However you make it happen, make sure you get a good seal so cheese and noodle don't come out the side. Cut a large slit or several artful small ones in the top of the pastry to allow steam to escape.
- Pop that bad boy in the oven for about 1 1/2 hours, or until you think everything is hot and the pastry is nicely golden brown. In my experience, this takes a little less time, but we have a convection oven, so there you go.
- Remove from the oven and allow to sit and cool for 20 minutes. This step is CRITICAL. The casserole needs some time for everything to cool down a bit from molten pasta lava to servable casserole.
- Now, after all your hard work and patient waiting, serve it up like pieces of pie and enjoy!
The Evolution of Encrased Pasta
Enclosed pasta dishes date back to Renaissance Italian banquets where pastry crusts acted primarily as protective baking vessels rather than edible additions. Originally designed to seal in fragile ingredients during long hours over open hearths, modern preparations like this rely on commercially produced puff pastry sheets to achieve the same structural integrity without requiring hours of dough lamination. Culinary historians note that encasing angel hair pasta inside a sealed pastry shell transforms a standard weeknight side dish into a dramatic centrepiece requiring precise thermal management.Adapting Fillings and Fats
Modifying traditional recipes to accommodate dietary restrictions requires understanding how moisture levels impact the final crust. Swapping turkey sausage for plant-based crumbles or omitting the meat entirely necessitates adding a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil to the Japanese eggplant during the initial sauté phase, because plant proteins lack the rendered fat required to keep the vegetables tender during long baking cycles. Cheese selections also demand attention: firm mozzarella blocks release less liquid during the 375-degree baking phase than fresh water-packed balls, preventing the pastry base from becoming soggy.Managing Kitchen Sequencing
Coordinating complex baked dishes demands strict adherence to chronological checkpoints to prevent structural collapse. Boiling the angel hair pasta for precisely one minute ensures the strands retain enough structural rigidity to avoid turning into mush after ninety minutes in the oven. Allowing the completed timbale to rest for exactly twenty minutes before slicing stabilizes the internal dairy and starches, yielding clean wedges resembling pie slices.
