October 28, 2011: Macaroni Timbales Recipe

Have you ever had a timbale? This is a recipe I got from an old cookbook that belong to the mother of one of my friends from college. It was old back in the early 80s so… Never mind, no need to say how old I am!

Anyway, the cookbook contained a lot of pasta recipes but none like I’d ever encountered before. One of those was for timbales, which turned out to be pretty yummy. According to an online dictionary, a timbale is defined as “A custardlike dish of cheese, chicken, fish, or vegetables baked in a drum-shaped pastry mold.” This recipe doesn’t require a special baking dish but is made of small, individual timbales. Try this unusual pasta presentation for a very unique side dish.

Macaroni Timbales served on top of freshly made Copper Pennies.

Macaroni Timbales

6 ounces macaroni noodles

2 eggs

2 ounces grated cheese (Parmesan, cheddar, Swiss – any hard or semi-hard cheese will work just fine)

Salt and pepper to taste

4 ounces cooked mushrooms

1 T. grated onion (you can mince the onion very finely or use dehydrated)

Bread crumbs

Prepared spaghetti sauce

Boil macaroni as directed on package until tender; drain well. Stir in cheese, one beaten egg, and seasonings. Generously butter the cups of a 6-cup muffin pan. Sprinkle fine bread crumbs in the bottom of each. Fill with macaroni mixture. Make a hollow in each cup. Mix the chopped, cooked mushrooms with the remaining beaten egg and use this to fill the hollow in each cup.

Bake 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Let stand for three minutes before removing from pan. Serve with hot spaghetti sauce poured over the top.

Note: As is, this recipe is rather bland. Feel free to add some fresh herbs, such as basil or oregano, and my old favorite standby, garlic salt.

July 15, 2011: Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

Some years ago I worked at a hotel near downtown Mesa, Arizona. While I was there, I became friends with one of the maintenance workers, Bob. Bob was the quintessential Italian-American, complete with faint New York accent and proud, dark moustache. Who better, I thought, to ask for a recipe for spaghetti sauce?

Bob was gracious enough to share with me his family recipe for authentic Italian spaghetti sauce and it’s the one I always use now. As for those handy sauces in a jar like Prego? Forgedaboutit!!

Tip: If you’ve got tomatoes fresh from the garden ready for use, blanch and peel them and use them in place of the canned tomatoes in this recipe.

Bob’s Spaghetti Sauce

5 cloves garlic, minced
4 T. olive oil

Heat olive oil to medium in a large pot. Add garlic and brown slowly just until slightly brown.

Add:
3 pint cans crushed tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste

Add to pot along with 2 empty paste cans of water; stir. Continue to cook over medium heat until it begins to boil. Reduce heat to simmer.

If using Italian sausage, boil in one-quarter inch of water until white, then add to sauce at this time.

After 45 minutes of cooking, add basil, parsley, oregano (about 1 tablespoon of each) and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Continue simmering. After an hour, taste and add more seasoning as needed. If it tastes bitter, add a bit more sugar. Spoon grease off the top of the sauce as needed (if using sausage) or place a slice of soft bread on top to soak up the grease. Add water if the sauce is too thick.

Cook for a minimum total time of two to two-and-a-half hours.