Ask Dear Gaby

Yes- I love making timballos.  They are simple and elegant.  Great to serve for company.  On Sundays, we have a traditional family dinner – Italian Style: we have plenty to eat, lots of wine to drink and enjoy sitting around the dining room table gossiping about anything and everything.  Last Sunday, I was planning on grilling chicken breast with a pesto sauce.  It was just my husband and I, so I didn’t need to do anything special.   However, the night before, we received a phone call from family saying thet were flying into Miami and would love to visit with us.  I realized after we hung up that I didnt have enough chicken to feed everyone for Sunday dinner.  So I decided to make a timballo– Why not?  I have made timballos before using Tuna – why not substitiute the tuna for the chicken with pesto and add sundried tomatoes .  I already had the eggplant which I was going to use to make eggplant parmigiano. Sunday morning, I prepared the filling and baked the sliced eggplant.  I then assembled my timballo and cooked it before my visitors arrived.  This way I could serve it at room temperature.  It was a hit.  My visitors couldnt believe that I whipped up such an elegant meal with very little notice.  The one thing I learned is making a timballo is a technique.  One can stuff it with whatever ingredients they have on hand including leftovers. People love the timballo, it can be prepared and assembled ahead of time making entertaining easy.

For the shell you will need:

• 2 medium eggplants
• Olive Oil
• Sea Salt

For the filling you will need:

• 1 lb chicken breast (diced)
• 1 1lb calamari steaks (cut in 1 inch strips )
• 6 garlic cloves crushed (You can never have too much garlic)
• ¼ cup fresh basil pesto
• Toasted pignoli nuts (Pine nuts)
• Fresh basil enough to line pan
• Chopped sundried tomaotes enough to line pan
• 1/2 lb mozarella cheese
• 1/4 cup freshly grated parmigiano cheese
• 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
• Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
• 3 eggs or substitute egg whites

 You will also need freshly made tomato sauce (or store bought if you must) and some chopped fresh basil to serve on top.

Directions

First slice the eggplant, length wise in slices of ¼ inch.Sprinkle salt on them, weight down the eggplant and let sit for several hours to extract the liquid from the eggplant. Preheat oven to 375°F. Drain. Wipe off the salt, Spray eggplant with a little olive oil and bake  on a non stick sheet in the oven @ 375°F  for approximately 5 minutes on each side. Remove from oven. Let cool.

Let’s prepare the filling: Heat olive oil in sauté pan using medium heat.  Add the garlic. Cook 1 minutes. Add chicken and cook for 2-3 minutes then add calamari, salt and freshly ground pepper.  Cook about 15-20 minutes until cooked thru.  then stir in fresh basil pesto.  Set aside to cool in a glass bowl along with its juices. Once cool, add about half the mozarella cheese (diced), the parmigiano cheese, eggs or egg whites, pignoli nuts and mix with wooden spoon.

While chicken mixture is cooling take a non stick spring form pan lightly coated with live oil, and line eggplant slices along the bottom and let pieces hang over sides.  Preheat the oven to 375ºF if you are going to cook right away. Now add a layer of fresh basil leaves on top of the eggplant.  Than add the layer of chopped sundried tomatoes, and than a layer of mozarella cheese sliced thinly. Than put the chicken filling into spring form pan.  Fold over the tops of the eggplant slices.  You will need to add additional eggplant slices to cover the top completely. At this point you can cover and refrigerate if you are making this ahead.

Place into a preheated over (375ºF ) and bake for 30-40 minutes until completely heated through.  Remove from oven. Let rest 30 minutes.  While the timballo is resting, heat up the tomato sauce. Place a flat serving platter over the spring form pan and invert it onto the platter on it so now the timballo is upside down on the platter.   Gently remove the spring form pan and you should have a nicely looking timballo. Sprinkle fresh chopped basil and serve with the tomato sauce. Serve with a nice Chianti. Mangia.

          

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