Making Maltese Timpana Recipe – Pasta Pie! | AD

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A couple of weeks ago Expedia sent us a hamper of Maltese food and drink that have helped us really submerge ourselves into the culinary style of Malta and Maltese cuisine. The hamper included so many foods and delicacies that we hadn’t tried before. Expedia asked us to create a dish inspired by Malta and that’s where my research began.

With the hamper, and the internet, as inspiration I started planning a family meal based on Malta – a country Dave and I have never visited. I googled and I trawled wikipedia and in the end I realised there was only one thing for it. Timpana!

What is traditional Maltese Timpana?

The Timpana definition is summed up as pasta, tomato sauce, meat and cheese encased in pastry. A pasta pie! I couldn’t think of anything our family would enjoy more and so I set about making my own recipe.

In the end I decided that my typical easy bolognese sauce would be perfect for this. You can make the bolognese however you like but ours usually involves beef mince, beef stock, tomato purée or tomato paste, tinned chopped tomatoes and a few vegetables along with a good sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper. Traditionally Timpana is made with pork mince and chicken livers but I knew our family would prefer our own classic flavours!

Can you make vegetarian timpana?

You can make a vegetarian version of this timpana pie easily by simply using a vegetarian bolognese mix. It wouldn’t be a classic meat timpana, like the traditional pie, but it would be perfect for vegetarians. You could make the bolognese sauce however works for you – with a meat substitute, just vegetables or with pulses. 

I chose Rigatoni pasta as I thought it would be slightly less filling than a more dense pasta considering the whole thing would be wrapped in pastry. I thought puff pastry would give a great finish and so I set about creating my pie. We chose to use fresh, ready made puff pastry but you could also use frozen puff pastry.

You can finish this pie off with a wash of lightly beaten eggs or milk on the top of the pastry shell to make it more golden brown and shiny if you want to. You could also make a Maltese baked macaroni recipe too by switching the Rigatoni for macaroni and filling the pie crust with the macaroni and tomato sauce mix.

If you’re looking for other recipes to make, here’s our Slow Cooker Moussaka, Slow Cooker Turkey and Sausage Stew and Chicken Pesto Pasta recipes. you can see all our recipes to date here.

Here’s our Maltese Timpana {Pasta Pie} Recipe:

Timpana Ingredients

• 4 portions of homemade bolognese sauce
• 2 sheets of ready made puff pastry
• 500g rigatoni – or any other pasta you feel like
• 50g grated cheddar

Recipe

• Cook pasta as per packet instructions, drain and cool with cold water
• Heat the bolognese sauce in a large pan over a medium heat until warmed through and mix this meat sauce with the pasta
• Preheat oven to 180C/ Line a round baking dish with puff pastry
• Pour the pasta mixture into the puff pastry case and top with the cheese
• Create a lid from the remaining pastry. Either make slits in the lid with a knife or create a lattice effect to let air through
• Oven with foil and bake in the oven for an hour or until golden browned and cooked through. You can take the foil off for the last ten minutes if you’d like a browner bake. Serve on it’s own or with mixed salad leaves.

If you’d like to print or pin the Maltese Timpana {Pasta Pie} Recipe for later you can do so below. Enjoy!

Print Pin

Maltese Timpana {Pasta Pie}

Timpana is summed up as pasta, tomato sauce, meat and cheese encased in pastry. A pasta pie!

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mediterranean

Keyword pasta, pastry

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Servings 6 portions

Ingredients

• 4 portions of homemade bolognese sauce
• 2 sheets of ready made puff pastry
• 500 g rigatoni – or any other pasta you feel like
• 50 g grated cheddar

Instructions

• Cook the pasta as per packet instructions, drain and cool with cold water
• Heat the bolognese sauce until warmed through and mix with the pasta
• Preheat the oven to 180C/ Line a round baking tin with puff pastry
• Pour the pasta and sauce mix into the pastry case and top with the cheese
• Create a lid from the remaining puff pastry. Either make slits in the lid with a knife or create a lattice effect to let air through
• Oven with foil and bake in the oven for an hour or until browned and cooked through. You can take the foil off for the last ten minutes if you’d like a browner bake

*Note: Nutritional information is estimated, based on publicly available data. Nutrient values may vary from those published.

This dish is now a firm favourite in our house. The adults and kids loved it. Usually when we have bolognese at home – or any pasta dish – we have garlic bread with it. With our pasta pie we just skipped the garlic bread and it made a really tasty and filling family meal in it’s own right.

As well as Timpana we have been enjoying Maltese bread, biscuits, pasties and snacks. I am definitely now a fan of the Maltese cuisine! Thanks to Expedia for helping us to embrace the culinary delights of Malta. Timpana will be on our meal plan often in the future!