This 18th-century Neapolitan dish debuted in the royal court of Maria Carolina of Austria, the wife of Ferdinand IV and III, King of Naples and Sicily. Sartù di Riso is essentially a timbale — though one made from rice, not pasta – with meat sauce that’s stuffed with hard-boiled eggs and peas and served with meatballs.
Its name derives from sor tout a Neapolitan term that means "cover everything." It refers to how the breadcrumbs cover, or “cloak” the timbale. Give it a try at home with the following recipe.
Photo: Riccardo Lettieri
Sartù di Riso Recipe
Skill Level: Intermediate
Time: 3 hours and 15 minutes
Ingredients to serve 10 - 12
For the Neapolitan ragù
3½ cups tomato purée
7 oz. beef muscle
4 oz. sausage
2 pork ribs
1 onion
dry white wine
salt
extra-virgin olive oil
For the meatballs
14 oz. minced pork pulp and beef
Parmigiano Reggiano DOP
1 large egg
½ garlic clove
breadcrumbs
‘00’ flour
parsley
extra-virgin olive oil
salt
pepper
For the rice
1 lb. carnaroli rice
7 oz. fresh provolone, diced
4 oz. shelled peas
4 large hard-boiled eggs
Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
breadcrumbs
butter
extra-virgin olive oil
To make the Neapolitan ragù
Chop the onion and brown it in 3-4 Tbsp. oil. Add the meat in large pieces, blend with ½ glass of wine, add the purée and 1 glass of water, season with salt, and cook in a covered pot for 1 hour and 30 minutes over low heat. Remove the meat from the sauce — you’ll eat it separately.
To make the meatballs
Mix the ground pulp with 3 Tbsp. grated Parmigiano, the egg, 1 Tbsp. breadcrumbs, 1-2 tablespoons of chopped parsley and minced garlic, salt, and pepper.
Shape into balls about the size of a hazelnut. Flour them and brown them in a pan with 3-4 Tbsp. oil.
To make the rice
Toast the rice in a saucepan with 2 Tbsp. oil for a couple of minutes, then add the meat sauce, and 1 glass of water, and cook for around 17 minutes, gradually adding more water. Stir in the grated Parmigiano, add half of the peas, and let the rice cool.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Grease a 9″ round ring mold, coat with breadcrumbs, and fill it with all the rice. Create a deep recess, leaving a layer of rice adhering to the walls.
Distribute the shelled hard-boiled eggs and peas in the hollow along with ⅓ of the meatballs and the diced provolone. Cover everything with the remaining rice and bake for 40-45 minutes.
Remove the sartù from the oven. Let cool for 10 minutes then turn it out of the mold.
Place on a serving plate, and set the remaining meatballs in the central hole.