Name: The majestic rice timbale from Naples (Sartù di riso)
Yield: Makes a tall 20 cm (8 inch) tin; serves 8–10
Cuisine: Persian
Ingredients: 3 tablespoons olive oil, for pan-frying; 1–2 bay leaves; 50 g (1¾ oz) butter, for greasing, plus an extra; 300 g (10½ oz) beef, such as brisket or shin, diced; 3 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs; 1 slice of lardo, pancetta or rindless bacon, sliced; 1 clove; 300 g (10½ oz) minced (ground) meat; beef is traditional, but you could also use pork; a handful of dried porcini mushrooms; ½ teaspoon salt; 2 tablespoons sweet Marsala or port wine; freshly grated nutmeg, to taste; 1 sausage, skin removed, meat crumbled; 4 cups (1 litre) tomato passata (purèed tomatoes); 200 g (7 oz) frozen peas, cooked and drained; ¼ cup (60 ml) red wine; 1 tablespoon salt; ¼ of a whole nutmeg, grated; 2 teaspoons salt; 700 g (1 lb 9 oz) risotto rice, such as arborio, carnaroli or vialone nano; 1 small onion, diced; 3 tablespoons olive oil; 2 tablespoons grated parmesan; 1 egg; 200 g (7 oz) mozzarella, drained and cut into small pieces; 100 g (3½ oz) butter; 3 eggs; ¾ cup (70 g) grated parmesan; 20 g (¾ oz) chopped butter, to finish

Preparation info

Makes a tall 20 cm tin; serves
8–10

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Pomegranates & Artichokes

By Saghar Setareh

Published 2023

About

They call this magnificent dish a triumph of rice, the pride and glory of high-end Neapolitan cooking. It looks like something out of a medieval painting, but in fact it is more modern. The legend goes that the queen of Naples and Sicily in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, Queen Maria Carolina of Austria, was not a huge fan of Neapolitan cuisine, so she hired French cooks, who created this dish as a way to make rice appealing to the court.

Rice came to Italy with th