Recipes

Garibaldi’s Coppola

Tagliatelle, peas, béchamel and mozzarella enclosed in a shell of cooked ham. Here is Garibaldi's cap.

As unusual as it is delicious, Garibaldi's coppola is a first course (although it could be included in the main courses given the richness of the ingredients) typical of Campania cuisine . Perfect for the most important occasions such as Easter, it is the party dish par excellence.

To prepare it, however, you need a rounded donut mold . The preparation requires it to be lined internally with cooked ham and then filled with tagliatelle seasoned with the most disparate ingredients. In this regard, there is no single recipe: bechamel, peas and grated cheese are never missing. Sometimes diced mushrooms and/or bacon are also added. Let's see all the steps in detail.

Recipe
Variants
Conservation
Origin and history

Preparation

Garibaldi's Coppola

First prepare the béchamel sauce (you can also use the one in the briquette). Melt the butter in a saucepan then add the flour and toast it until it reaches the classic hazelnut color of the roux . Pour in the milk , stirring with a whisk, season with salt and let it thicken for about ten minutes, stirring often. Once ready, flavor with nutmeg and set aside.

Finely chop the onion and brown it in a pan with a drizzle of oil . Then add the peas , a pinch of salt and half a glass of water. Cook them for about 15 minutes with the lid on.

Cook the tagliatelle al dente, drain them and transfer them to a large bowl. Season them with the béchamel sauce , the peas and the diced mozzarella . Mix well and flavor with grated cheese .

Get a 24 cm diameter donut mold , butter it and line it with the slices of cooked ham, making sure they fall out from both sides.

Stuff with the pasta, pressing lightly with the back of the spoon, then close the two flaps of ham to cover.

Cook in the oven at 180°C for 30 minutes, leaving it to cool for at least ten minutes before serving.

If you also love substantial recipes, we recommend you try both the pasta and rice timbales.

Variants

As mentioned, there are many variations of this traditional recipe:

with mushrooms: among the most common is the one that involves the addition of sautéed mushrooms in a pan with garlic and butter. In this case, melt 50 g of butter, add a clove of garlic and sauté 300 g of sliced champignon mushrooms until they are tender. Season with salt and add them to the pasta when you go to season it.
with bacon: adding 100g of smoked bacon to the onion when preparing the peas gives you an extra boost of flavor (even if the dish doesn't need it).
without bechamel: actually not very common, Garibaldi coppola without bechamel is prepared by adding 60 g of butter, which will melt with the heat of the pasta, and an egg to the cooked tagliatelle.

If you don't have a donut mold you can also use the classic springform cake mold. The important thing is to overlap the ham well so as not to reveal parts of the pasta.

Conservation

The pasta timbale can be prepared in advance and kept raw for a day in the refrigerator, well covered with cling film, while cooked it can be kept for up to 3 days. We advise you to heat it in the oven before bringing it to the table.

Origin and history

It is not difficult to guess the origin of the name of the dish. In fact, the reference is to the red hat that Garibaldi used to wear. To obtain this beautiful effect, cooked ham is used which tends to color during cooking.

However, there is also another hypothesis. In fact, it is said that the dish was invented to celebrate the meeting between King Vittorio Emanuele II and the general which took place on 26 October 1860 in San Nicola, near Teano, although other municipalities in the area claim the fact and, consequently, the paternity of the dish.