Ciao Italia Live: Buon Appetito with Mary Ann Esposito
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Recipes from Slow and Easy
by Mary Ann Esposito
(St. Martins Press: New York 2007)
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Timballo di Scamorza - Scamorza Cheese Casserole
Serves 6
Call it a timpano or timballo, it all comes down to a molded and baked affair that contains ingredients like rice, pasta, potatoes, eggs, or bread as a binder. Naples is famous for its timpano made with thick pasta, tiny meatballs and peas. Emiilia Romagna is famous for its bomba, a type of timpano made with rice, a luscious cream sauce, mushrooms, ham, and exotic truffles Impressive, yes, and time consuming to make. This simple timballo, made with bread, eggs, cheese and salami, takes its inspiration from southern Italy and takes minutes to prepare. It can be assembled ahead of time, is perfect as a brunch or buffet offering, and is even good cold as a leftover. Critical to the success of the dish is the quality of the bread; use a good semolina or sourdough type. Scamorza is a mozzarella cheese that is smoked or unsmoked.
INGREDIENTS
- Twenty-one 1/2-inch slices semolina or sourdough type bread
- 8 large eggs
- Salt to taste
- Grinding black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1/4 pound salame, or soppressata, thinly sliced and cut in half
- 12 ounces Scamorza cheese, smoked or unsmoked, coarsely chopped
- 4 tablespoons butter, cut into bits
- Preheat the oven to 350F
- Brush an 8 x 13 x 2- inch deep casserole dish with olive oil and set aside
- Crack the eggs into a large bowl and beat them with a whisk until foamy. Whisk in the milk, salt and pepper
- Lay the bread slices in a single layer on each of 2 baking sheets.
- Divide and pour the egg mixture over the slices and allow them to soak and absorb the mixture.
- Use a wide spatula to lift the bread slices and make a single layer of 7 slices in the casserole; do not worry if there are gaps. Top with half of the salame and half of the cheese. Make a second layer like the first. Top with the last layer of bread and dot the top with the butter.
- Place a sheet of wax paper over the top and press on it with your hands to compress the bread slices. Remove and discard the wax paper.
- Bake 30-35 minutes or until the top is nicely browned. Cut into squares and serve hot or at room temperature.
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Pesche e Panna - Peaches and Cream
Serves 6
This refreshing no-bake casserole is one of my favorite summertime desserts and it all has to do with heavenly white peaches, what the Italians call pesca bianca. For my money, their white flesh and perfumed taste can’t be beat. I like to mix them with white nectarines and fold them into slightly sweetened whipped cream. The crunch comes from amaretti di Saronno, those tiny almond cookies from northern Italy.
- 20 amaretti cookies, crushed to a fine consistency
- 8 tablespoons melted, and cooled butter
- 4 large white peaches, peeled , pitted and cut into thin slices
- 2 large white nectarines, peeled, pitted and cut into thin slices
- Juice of 1 large lemon
- 2 cups whipping cream
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- Combine the amaretti crumbs in a bowl with the melted butter and mix well to combine. Press half the cookies into an 8 inch square pan and refrigerate. Set the rest aside.
- Combine the peaches and nectarines in a separate bowl with the lemon juice and set aside.
- Whip the cream in a large bowl on high speed until stiff; stir in the sugar and the almond extract.
- Drain the peaches and nectarines in a colander and fold into the whipped cream. Spread the mixture evenly and carefully over the amaretti.
- Sprinkle the remaining amaretti over the top.
- Refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Scoop to serve.
TIP!
Amaretti di Saronno work best in this recipe; find them in Italian specialty stores, on line, or in grocery stores. Substitute vanilla wafer cookies if amaretti are unavailable.
For related products, go to SUPPORT 21.