Chicken Pasta Timbale Recipe, Chicken Fusilli Timbale or Fusilli Timballi di Pollo |
One of the favorite meals in our home is Chicken Pot Pie, which I consider to be Southern cuisine. It is always homemade with a very flaky crust, filled with creamy chicken, potatoes, carrots, and celery. We fight about who gets the leftovers the next day! :) My chicken and pasta timbale or timballi in Italian, is a combination of a traditional Italian dish and our Southern favorite. To be clear, some call this same dish a Timpano, as it also means a type of drum and a shaped pasta dish as this. Pasta replaces the potatoes and Alfredo sauce replaces the cream of chicken.
A timballi, timbale, or timpano is either a cup or a drum and describes the molded shape of such a dish. There are many ways to make timbale, including using a custard to hold the meat and vegetables together. Because we were making a pasta timbale, it seemed to me that a traditional pie crust would be too heavy. I was correct. I was so satisfied, that I could not finish an entire slice of this timbale.
It is not uncommon for the Italians to reach through their borders and borrow techniques from other countries, as do the other countries often borrow from them. Living in the USA, I am accustomed to Mexican cooking and was amazed that traditional Spanish cooking is closer aligned to Italian cooking. The Mediterranean regions share many similarities, as do the French.
Chicken Fusilli Timbale enveloped in phyllo or fillo dough, puffed pastry. |
Chicken Fusilli Timbale / Timpano Recipe
or Fusilli Timballo di pollo
or Fusilli Timballo di pollo
Ingredients:
- 12" X 17" sheets of phyllo or fillo dough
- 4 cups of boneless, shredded or cubed cooked chicken (I use thighs for moisture and taste)
- 2 T Olive Oil
- 6 T butter, plus additional for the phyllo dough
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 2 stalks of celery, chopped
- 1 garlic head, all cloves finely chopped
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 2 cups of heavy cream or half-n-half
- 1 cup of Parmesan and/or Romano
- 12 ounces of fusilli pasta (can substitute any other pasta)
Directions:
Butter the bottom and sides of a 10" springform pan. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the fusilli and cook until al dente, drain and set aside. Do not rinse. Do not worry about it sticking together.Onions, celery, and carrots are the soffrito for this Chicken Timbale recipe. |
Creamy Alfredo sauce with chicken, onions, garlic, celery, and carrots ready to layer with the fusilli for the timbale. |
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Melt at least 4 Tablespoons of butter. Place your springform pan on a pastry board and unroll your sheets of phyllo/fillo dough. Take about half of the sheets and lay them across the springform and cover with wax paper and a slightly damp towel. Cover the remaining half with wax paper and a slightly damp towel as well.
Crispy, Flaky Phyllo (Puffed Pastry) on Timbale - hot out of the oven. |
Chicken Pasta Timbale - A slice of flaky perfection! |
Update: We had the timbale leftovers for lunch today. It was soggy coming out of the refrigerator. I put it in an over at 300 degrees and the phyllo became crispy again. I also made some additional Alfredo sauce to go with it. The kids really liked it a lot more with the additional Alfredo. In Italy they commonly make a besciamella sauce, which is a bechamel or white sauce to go with many versions of timbale or timpano. Next time I will serve it with additional Alfredo sauce.
14 Punti per la polizia grammatica