Have you seen this movie, 'Big Night', starring a diminutive Stanley Tucci, his "brother" Tony Shaloub, and a silent, as-yet undiscovered Marc Anthony? It's a total charmer about twobrothers who own a struggling Italian restaurant and must cook the meal of their lives for a special gust one particular evening. If you ask me, the star of the show ... well, is Marc Anthony. He mostly just walks from one end of the room to the other in all his (line-less) scenes. But, the food in this movie is as much of a character as any of the gesticulating Italians. Hence, why it became the centerpiece of a dinner-and-a-movie night I recently hosted for some friends.
One of the dishes they serve in the film is called timpano, after the timpani, because it's baked in a giant bowl and inverted after cooking--resulting in a drum-like appearance. It is aridiculous extravaganza of
pasta, meats, cheeses and (inexplicably) hard-boiled eggs, all stuffed into some dough and baked until slice-able. Why not make this for dinner, I thought? Why not indeed. The assembly goes something like this:
- Pasta dough
- Pasta tossed in tomato sauce
- Salami & Provolone chunks
- Hard boiled eggs
- Meatballs
- Parmesan cheese
- Repeat
- Wrap and close
Well, I did it. I pretty much followed the strategy outlined here, though decreased in size just a touch. It served 6 people generously, and we still have half of it in our fridge. Lunch and dinner for the next week, I think.
I'm posting it here just because it's kind of fun, and I want to remember that I did it. Also, to encourage you to have your own dinner-and-a-movie nights, potlucks even, where you eat a meal inspired by a movie (even a movie that's not explicitly about a meal) with lots of friends. Mangia!
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