Timballo di Maccheroni alla Teramana

Make the ragù. Warm the olive oil in a heavy casserole over a medium flame. Soften the onion until translucent, then add the lamb, pork, and chicken pieces in a single uncrowded layer. Brown on all sides. Pour in the white wine and allow it to evaporate almost entirely. Add the passed tomatoes, season, and reduce the heat to the lowest setting. Cook, lid slightly ajar, for 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is dense, glossy, and has lost all excess liquid — it must hold its shape on a spoon.

Make the polpettine. Combine the minced meat, grated pecorino, beaten egg, and salt. Roll between the palms into balls the size of a marble. Shallow-fry in olive oil in a small pan over a medium-high flame, turning once, until evenly browned and firm to the touch. Drain on absorbent paper.

Fry the artichoke hearts. Slice the trimmed artichoke hearts and fry in olive oil over a medium-high flame, turning, until each slice is deep golden and crisp at the edges and yields without resistance when pressed. Drain and reserve.

Line the baking dish. Preheat the oven to 190 °C. Roll the pastry to a uniform thickness of approximately 4 mm. Use two-thirds of it to line the base and sides of a deep 26 cm baking dish, leaving an overhang. Prick the base, line with baking parchment, fill with baking weights, and blind-bake for 10 minutes until the pastry has set and lost its raw sheen but has not yet coloured. Remove the weights and paper.

Cook the chitarra and dress it. Boil the maccheroni alla chitarra in well-salted water until just short of al dente — it will finish cooking inside the timballo. Drain and toss immediately with a generous ladleful of the ragù so the strands are coated but not swimming.

Assemble the layers — this is the step on which the timballo lives or dies. Spread a thin film of ragù across the blind-baked base. Add a layer of dressed chitarra. Scatter polpettine, slices of hard-boiled egg, fried artichoke pieces, and grated pecorino over the pasta. Drizzle with a spoonful of saffron water. Repeat the sequence — ragù, chitarra, polpettine, egg, artichoke, pecorino, saffron water — until the dish is filled to within 1 cm of the rim, finishing with a pasta layer lightly covered in ragù. Each layer must be distinct and compact; a slack, liquid-heavy assembly will cause the timballo to collapse on slicing.

Seal and bake. Lay the reserved pastry over the top, pressing it to the overhanging sides to form a tight seal. Trim the excess and crimp the edge. Brush the entire surface with beaten egg wash. Bake at 190 °C for 35 to 40 minutes, until the pastry lid is a deep, even, burnished gold and the sides have pulled fractionally from the dish.

Rest before opening. Remove the timballo from the oven and allow it to rest, undisturbed, for 20 minutes. The layers set and the internal steam redistributes. When the dish is sliced at the table, each portion should hold its structure and release a column of fragrant steam — the sign the rest is complete.