Slide long pieces of spaghetti (or small maccaroni) gently into a sauce-pan, turning them round so that they should not be broken. Boil in salted water until tender, then lay them straight out on a cloth to cool. Butter small moulds (about three inches high), and wind spaghetti round inside them, beginning at the bottom. As you wind, fill each mould with boiled maccaroni, pieces of sweetbread cut into small bits, and button mushrooms, already cooked and prepared. Fill the moulds rather tight, or the timbaletti will not stand up, cover them with buttered paper, and stand them in a pan of hot water to cook in a slow oven for half an hour. Turn the timbaletti carefully out of the moulds, pour a little gravy round them, and serve hot.
Tagliarini ‘al Formaggio.’
Take one pound of flour, three eggs, half a tumbler of milk, and a pinch of salt, mix up into a paste and work it well. Lay it aside for half an hour, then roll it out very thin and let it dry before cutting it into long thin strips (tagliarini). Boil these in salted water over a very slow fire for twenty minutes and then drain well. Meanwhile prepare four ounces of grated Parmesan cheese, five ounces of grated Gruyère, and six ounces of butter; put a layer of tagliarini into a baking-dish, and cover them with cheese and butter. Repeat the alternate layers of tagliarini, cheese and butter, until the dish is full. Sprinkle the top with bread-crumbs and bits of butter, bake in the oven for quarter of an hour and serve in the baking-dish very hot.
Tagliatelle with Ham.
Make a stiff paste with flour and eggs, roll it to the thickness of a florin, cut it into strips half or three-quarters of an inch broad, and parboil with a very little salt. Meanwhile cut up into small square pieces a thick slice of ham, mince some carrot and celery (about the same in quantity as the ham) and put them into a frying-pan with two, or more, ounces of butter. When they begin to brown add some tomato juice (or tomato conserve) and a cupful of broth (or water). Place the tagliatelle, well strained, on to a hot dish, season with grated Parmesan cheese, some bits of butter, and the ham.
Tagliatelle ‘alla Romagnola.’
Put one clove of garlic (or a sliced onion) and a bunch of parsley into a frying-pan with some pure olive oil. As soon as the garlic (or onion) begins to brown, add six or seven tomatoes cut in slices, and salt and pepper to taste. When they are cooked strain off the gravy. Meanwhile make a paste as in ‘Tagliatelle with Ham,’ parboil in plenty of slightly salted water, then put it into a sauce-pan, pour the hot gravy over it, add some butter and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese, mix, and serve at once.
Tagliatelle with Sausages.
Prepare the tagliatelle as in the recipe ‘with Ham,’ only substitute sausages for the ham.