Sartu di Riso, Birthday Trip Food

Sartu di Riso

As I mentioned in the last post, I cribbed this recipe from Giada De Laurentiis of Food Network. It's a timballo that is apparently native to Naples, Italy  #LucianoFuria  It's a long, but when broken into steps, not complicated recipe to assemble and cook. You be the judge if the ends justify the means. I'd do it again in a heartbeat,  but maybe only a couple times a year.

We had Sally's birthday dinner on Sunday, so her Mum could be here, and this is what my Sartu di Riso turned out like:

 

As you can see, it's a rice-crusted timbale or timballo stuffed with mini meatballs, thick marinara, mushrooms, frozen peas and pearl onions, and whatever else you might like, such as hardboiled eggs (which I did not include). It can be made in an ordinary deep open pan, but a fluted bundt pan makes a much nicer presentation.

You'll have some leftovers of the various stages. But that's a good thing. Freeze them, and later you can stir them all together and put in a pie shell to make another yummy dinner.  Here's what you need to make:

We'll take this one segment at a time.

Rice

1 pound Arborio or Valencio short-grained rice (2 1/3 cups)
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth or water and bouillion cubes
Salt to taste
3 cups freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
3 large eggs, at room temperature (see Making the Crust, below)

Combine the rice, broth and salt (if desired) in a large pot. Stir and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, stir once, cover, and simmer about 8 minutes until the liquid is absorbed.

Remove rice to a large bowl, stir in 2-1/2 cups of the Parmigiano. Reserve the rest for the Adding the Top phase of things.  Stir to combine well and let cool to room temperature.

Later on you'll also need a tablespoon or two of butter, and 1/4 cup of fine ground breadcrumbs to make the 'mold release' layer in the pan before you pack the rice into the walls and stem of the pan.

Marinara
24 oz jar Pasta Sauce of your choice

½ cup diced Onion

¼ cup diced Red Bell Pepper

additional Italian herbs and spices to taste

2 cloves Garlic, minced

1 lb 80/20 Ground Beef

Saute the garlic, onion and bell peppers until soft. Add the beef and cook until it's mostly browned. Now add the pasta sauce, stir to combine, and simmer to thicken (stiff, not sloppy). Reserve.

Need to thicken more or faster??? A couple tablespoons of Grits (polenta, cornmeal) will do the trick!

Meatballs

If you're a masochist, makes these from scratch! I took the easy route and bought a dozen Italian meatballs (a pound) from the meat department at my megamart. Throw a splash of oil in a skillet and let it heat. Cut each meatball in quarters, and re-roll between your palms to make grape-sized balls. Saute a few minutes until cooked through. Drain and reserve.

Mushrooms

Use the same pan and flavored oil from the meatballs.

8 oz whole small Crimini mushrooms

You don't really want any mushrooms as big as an inch in diameter. Quarter larger 'shrooms, and saute them all a few minutes until they reduce a bit in size and are cooked through. Drain on paper towels and reserve.

Peas and Pearl Onions

You'll want about two cups. I used a box of frozen pearl onions and two cups of frozen peas.

Mozarella

Traditional recipes call for cubes of fresh mozzarella. I just used an 8 oz bag of large shreds instead. Stir this into the marinara sauce, just before filling the timbale crust.

Lining The Pan

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter, and use your spice grinder to whirrrr a quarter cup of panko into really fine crumbs. Grease the inside of the pan and the stem very well, then dust the panko all around. Make sure everything is well coated with butter and crumbs and there are no 'bald' spots. A good layer of “mold release” is essential to making the final product look extra special. Reserve the breadcrumbs which don't stick.

IF you happen to have a non-stick bundt pan, like the one I borrowed, you can more or less skip this step. The butter and breadcrumbs just won't stick!

Making the Crust

Beat the three eggs, and mix them into the rice-cheese mixture.  Spoon about 2/3 of the rice mixture into the pan. Using wet hands, press an even layer into the bottom of the pan, up the fluted side, and all around the stem. The crust should stand nearly 3” up the side. If you have a non-stick pan, nothing will stick to the center stem either!

Filling the Crust

Spoon in a layer of the thick marinara sauce, then a layer of meat balls. Then add the mushrooms, followed by layers of peas and cheese. Repeat until the crust is full.

Adding the Top

Spoon the remaining rice mixture on top of the last layer of filling, and seal it well against the crust around the stem and side. Smooth it flat and dust with the reserved Parmigiano cheese.

Bake and Serve

You can keep the prepared but uncooked Sartu di Riso overnight in the fridge.  Bring it back to room temperature for a few hours the next day, before cooking.  

Preheat the oven to 350F. Bake the assembled timbale 45 minutes. 

Then let the pan rest for at least 10 minutes before flipping the timbale upside down onto a plate. You may need a couple of sharp taps on the pan with a wooden spoon to get a good release.

Slice like a cake and serve wedges of goodness, with or without side dishes, crusty bread, etc.

Strawberry Shortcake
 Birthday dinner deserves a nice dessert, and what better for a June dessert than Strawberry Shortcake.  My Mom always used those store-bought spongecake things, but I make my Soda Biscuits which I've written about before.  I add a bit of sugar and to sweeten them up just a bit -- before baking, brush the tops of the biscuits with milk, and sprinkle then with sugar.

The big twist this time was that instead of Sour Cream with Bisquicktm and Ginger Ale, I used the same amount of Greek Yogurt.  Couldn't really tell any difference in the taste or texture. 

Birthday Week Food

The last two years, Sally and I went down to the Florida Keys for our birthday week excursion. This year we went to the mountains of North Carolina, and stayed at our friends' summer home up a mountain outside of Burnsville (an hour from Asheville). We arrived kinda late and had a reasonable dinner at Bubba's BBQ, then bought groceries in town before making our way up the mountain.    At our friends' house, I cooked and we ate our usual sorts of meals. Breakfasts were usually omelets, or apples and peanut butter. Lunches were coldcuts and cheese, again with apples and crackers. For dinners I made Stuffed Eggplant, Panko Cod, and Pollo Tropicale.

For my birthday we went into wonderful downtown Burnsville, to the Snap Dragon gastro pub. The town was named after Captain Otway Burns, a War of 1812 naval hero, and the pub is named after his ship. I had a trio of really nice lamb sliders with a sort of Greek salad on the side; while Sally had two excellent grouper tacos. We shared an order of nicely done NC-style Fried Pickles, dill spears dredged in a light tempura-style batter and deep fried, served with two dipping sauces.

Before flying back to Fort Myers, we stayed overnight at an AirBnb in downtown Asheville, right in the art district. For lunch we went back to one of our favorite restaurants, Chai Pani, an Indian Street Food restaurant. We had an order of their Okra Fries to see how the ones I've been making compared to the original. Then Sally had Aloo Tiki Challa – potato cakes on a bed of spiced garbanzos with a thick tomato sauce. My lunch was called a Sloppy Jai (Kheema Pav), which was a spiced lamb “hash” with tomato, ginger, and garnished with green onion, cilanto, green chutney and a dab of yogurt and served on nice buns. “The most awesome Sloppy Joe ever!” pretty much sums it up.

That night for dinner we went to a wonderful Tapas Bar called Cúrate, recommended by Sally's niece Ally, who drove over from Greenville, SC to spend a couple hours with us.  The restaurant is supposedly rated one of the top ten tapas bars in America.  It certainly was outstanding food, and popular.  The place was SRO at 6:30 on a Thursday evening!!  We shared Ajo Blanco, a garlic/grape/almond cold soup the recipe for which dates back to the 800s; Bocadillo Serrano, a special kind of ham sandwich, Espinacas al la Catalan, a warm spinach salad with diced apple, toasted pine nuts, and raisins; Butifarra con Mangetes, a unique pork sausage with fried white beans and Spanish Salsa Verde; and Esparragos Verdes, grilled green asparagus with Romesco sauce and a drizzle of EVOO.

Look for my versions of some of the above dishes in upcoming posts of Fooding Around With The Kilted Cook.