WineLovers Discussion Group

We just finish our remodel project for the year, new floor, cabinets redone and new hood in the kitchen. As we are filling the cabinets from the storage boxes we noted a large number of partially filled containers of an array of pasta. Since we now have sliding out shelves in many of the cabinets out kitchen storage space has been reduced. To help solve the problem I am thinking about making some pasta loaves in loaf pans. It will be kind of like lasagna. I will only serve it to our household because I think it would be greeted with laughter to serve it to any one else. I think about 3-4 loaf pans of the mess should take care of the pasta problem.

I know I can make it palatable but visually it will be hard not to break into laughter.

There is actually a semi-famous recipe that is more or less a pasta cake. Remember the Timpano in Big Night? The concept is that you cook a whole lot of pasta in a big round pot and then unmold it and cut it like a cake. Naturally there are very many variations on the recipe and I think I read that when they made the film they made six or seven different ones and used them in different shots. Some of them were very loaded up with meats. My neighbor made one from a recipe and it turned out to be largely just pasta and red sauce, slightly bland and boring, but maybe a little more interesting to make and eat than your loaves?

Frank Deis wrote:There is actually a semi-famous recipe that is more or less a pasta cake. Remember the Timpano in Big Night? The concept is that you cook a whole lot of pasta in a big round pot and then unmold it and cut it like a cake. Naturally there are very many variations on the recipe and I think I read that when they made the film they made six or seven different ones and used them in different shots. Some of them were very loaded up with meats. My neighbor made one from a recipe and it turned out to be largely just pasta and red sauce, slightly bland and boring, but maybe a little more interesting to make and eat than your loaves?

One of my favorite movies of all time.

I use up those small amounts of pasta by putting them into soup, or making a pasta pasta salad for lunch, or cooking it and adding a tomato sauce from the freezer. Actually great to have and I keep finding uses for them. I recently made a turkey soup and broke up lasagne noodles into it. The soup was great with those wide bite sized noodles.

I think I will grease the pan so I can flip it out. That sounds like a great idea! I am thinking of doing it in layers like lasagna.

I have yet to make this but I've remembered it for years:

http://fxcuisine.com/Default.asp?language=2&Display=145&resolution=high

Fred Sipe wrote:I have yet to make this but I've remembered it for years:

http://fxcuisine.com/Default.asp?language=2&Display=145&resolution=high

Whoa! That looks really good....

George, I love the idea of the loaves! I think you should hide a treat in one of them and whoever gets it in his portion is 'king for a day' (whatever that might mean in your household).

Fred Sipe wrote:I have yet to make this but I've remembered it for years:

http://fxcuisine.com/Default.asp?language=2&Display=145&resolution=high

I have two individual sized spring-form pans that would make that little guy PERFECTLY. Sounds terrific.

Hey we could be creating a new food fad!

I think the Timpano is supposed to be from Emilia-Romagna, up north of Tuscany. But it looks like a very similar concept to the Sicilian dish.

According to this very interesting map, pasta is generally tubular and dressed with olive oil in Sicily but flat and dressed with butter in Emilia Romagna. So maybe the northerners borrowed the recipe from the southerners??

http://thelandofmaps.tumblr.com/post/63 ... s-of-pasta

Frank Deis wrote:I think the Timpano is supposed to be from Emilia-Romagna, up north of Tuscany. But it looks like a very similar concept to the Sicilian dish.

According to this very interesting map, pasta is generally tubular and dressed with olive oil in Sicily but flat and dressed with butter in Emilia Romagna. So maybe the northerners borrowed the recipe from the southerners??

http://thelandofmaps.tumblr.com/post/63 ... s-of-pasta

The word "timpano" is so melodic it makes me think simultaneously of music and food.

Thomas wrote:

Frank Deis wrote:I think the Timpano is supposed to be from Emilia-Romagna, up north of Tuscany. But it looks like a very similar concept to the Sicilian dish.

According to this very interesting map, pasta is generally tubular and dressed with olive oil in Sicily but flat and dressed with butter in Emilia Romagna. So maybe the northerners borrowed the recipe from the southerners??

http://thelandofmaps.tumblr.com/post/63 ... s-of-pasta

The word "timpano" is so melodic it makes me think simultaneously of music and food.

Thomas, I think I know you well enough that I am sure you realize that the name is a reference to the "drum" shape of the finished dish.

I always loved the Italian name for kettledrums, "timpani" ...

We've been off and on the same Wine boards for many years.

Frank Deis wrote:

Thomas wrote:

Frank Deis wrote:I think the Timpano is supposed to be from Emilia-Romagna, up north of Tuscany. But it looks like a very similar concept to the Sicilian dish.

According to this very interesting map, pasta is generally tubular and dressed with olive oil in Sicily but flat and dressed with butter in Emilia Romagna. So maybe the northerners borrowed the recipe from the southerners??

http://thelandofmaps.tumblr.com/post/63 ... s-of-pasta

The word "timpano" is so melodic it makes me think simultaneously of music and food.

Thomas, I think I know you well enough that I am sure you realize that the name is a reference to the "drum" shape of the finished dish.

I always loved the Italian name for kettledrums, "timpani" ...

We've been off and on the same Wine boards for many years.

Frank--I'm busted!

I remember in grade school in Brooklyn we were taken to the Brooklyn Museum every so often for music programs. One of the programs went through each instrument in an orchestra, explaining it and letting us hear it solo. The two instruments that got my attention by way of synesthesia (they each made me see colors) were percussive, piano and timpani. At that time, I had no knowledge of the timpano--my mother never made that dish.