Carnival Timballi with pork sauce

Today is Martedì Grasso, the last day of Carnival Celebrations and a rich menu for lunch is absolutely a must.

In this corner of Sicily, the traditional recipe is a thick pork sauce called "Sugu", which really just means "the sauce". We already wrote about it in a previous post explaining that this is a combination of pork meat and Sicilian sausages prepared using "strattu" - a thick tomato paste dried in the sun.
Some people use it to prepare "ravioli di ricotta", others to serve home-made tagliatelle, in Ispica they cannot do without for their traditional "gnucchitti" .

Now, the question about traditional recipes which require long preparations and are very rich in calories is whether the young generations of family cooks are keeping up the tradition or not. Well, I was definitely reassured last Sunday when we went for a family walk in Pozzallo, a small town by the seaside. The whole town smelt like "Sugu", in every road and every square we walked into, the pork sauce smell was tickling our taste buds. Of course, we rushed home to our own "gnucchitti".

Today, for the final Carnival day, I prepared "Timballi" with bucatini pasta, fresh ricotta, caciocavallo ragusano and sausage.

Here is the recipe:

Cook 500 gr of bucatini al dente. Mix 600 gr ricotta with 100 gr of grated caciocavallo ragusano cheese. Then brake the sausage into small chunks and add it to the ricotta with three beaten eggs and a teaspoon of ground pepper.

Prepare 8 round mono-portion trays, spread the ricotta mixture on the bottom and add a layer of pasta in a circular manner so to follow the shape of the tray. Continue adding more layers of ricotta and pasta then finish off with grated caciocavallo and bake in a preheated oven at 200° Celsius for 45 minutes.

Then of course, serve with a generous spoon of super rich pork sauce, "sugu".

Right now, my whole house is smelling like pork sauce. This is simply the taste and smell of Sicilian Carnival and I am glad we are keeping up with this tradition.