There are some traditional dishes, where, all you need to do is take one bite and it’s enough to spark childhood memories, cultural love and tears.
For many people with Maltese heritage, timpana is one of those dishes.
Mark Mizzi, owner and head chef at , makes the traditional pasta pie using his Maltese grandmother’s recipe. Every time he puts the dish - baked macaroni encrusted in pastry, finished with a Maltese cross - on his restaurant’s menu, mouths water and tears flow.
“When some people with Maltese heritage come here and try our timpana, they often start crying,” says Mizzi, an Australian-born Victorian with Maltese parents. “Tasting Maltese dishes like timpana makes them remember a time when their grandmother or mother used to make it for them.
Eating traditional Maltese dishes like timpana makes them feel really sentimental.
“Maybe they’ve come to eat at our restaurant because their mum or grandma has passed away, or they are getting older and not cooking traditional foods anymore. They want to stay connected to the culture. Eating traditional Maltese dishes like timpana makes them feel really sentimental.”
The Maltese pasta pie is pure carb heaven, so it’s no wonder that its flavours have left a mark on the people who grew up eating it. Imagine a baked macaroni made with tubular pasta and meat sauce, connected by eggs and Parmesan cheese, surrounded by a flaky, puff pastry. This is timpana.
The Maltese pasta pie has origins nestled in Its close cousin is also a pasta pie – timpano (also called timbale or timballo), a popular dish in Calabria and Sicily. Given that the small Mediterranean island of Malta was an extension of the Kingdom of Sicily from , it’s easy to understand how a Sicilian dish also became Maltese.
Timpana (front) is a traditional Maltese pasta pie, usually presented alongside ross il forn (back left) and ghagin il-forn (back right) at family gatherings. Source: Nanna's Place at The Maltese Pastizzi Bar and Restaurant
How to make timpana
Melbourne-based caterer, Ryan Axiak, grew up in Malta but immigrated to Australia 16 years ago.
In Malta, he says, timpana sits alongside other old-fashioned dishes with equal value on the table of traditional cuisine. It’s a must for catch-ups and special occasions.
“Timpana reminds me of my childhood and family coming together – the good old days in Malta when my grandparents were still around,” Axiak says, who runs . “It’s associated with nice feelings and memories. These days, I make timpana at home for my family every now and then to continue the tradition.”
Timpana reminds me of my childhood and family coming together – the good old days in Malta when my grandparents were still around.
To make timpana, there are a few basic steps to follow, says Axiak. First, slowly cook the meat with a base of garlic, onion and bay leaf.
“I use a mix of minced beef, minced pork and some chicken livers, which is a must. Add a little bit of tomato paste to the meat mixture but not too much because you don’t want it to contain too much liquid and make the pastry soggy.”
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Timpana
Next, Axiak sprinkles Maltese spices into the meat mixture. These include cumin, coriander, cinnamon and nutmeg. “However some households may choose to use curry powder instead to flavour the meat and sauce. Once the meat and sauce mixture is done, mix it with cooked macaroni, Parmesan cheese and beaten eggs.”
Axiak makes two sheets of lard pastry with apple cider vinegar for added crunch and flakiness. The first sits at the base of the pie, beneath the macaroni and meat mixture. Then, he tops the pie with a final sheet of pastry before brushing it with an egg wash.
“Once the pie comes out of the oven, the pastry should be crunchy and the pasta, soft.”
Although timpana has a basic recipe that most Australian-Maltese families follow, the ingredients may vary according to the home cook and when the recipe made its way to Australia from Malta. Some families add eggplant, while others add peas: a common feature of recipes that came to Australia with parents or grandparents that immigrated in the 1950s or 1960s. It just depends on what's traditional in the household.
Joyce Vanderboot, owner of the online Brisbane-based business, , uses her mother’s recipe to make timpana at home. It came with her mother from Malta when she moved to Australia after World War Two.
“For the meat mixture, mum used minced beef and pork, and corned beef otherwise known as Bully Beef – an ingredient that was popular in Malta during my mother’s time, when the island was run by the British," says Maltese home cook Vanderboot.
To us, it’s a dish that’s full of memories.
“Food was scarce during the war. The very clever Maltese ladies made a lot of different meals out of corned beef like corned beef pie, rissoles and even timpana.”
Vanderboot also washes the pastry in milk. She adds peas and a chopped hard-boiled egg to the meat mixture.
“Timpana is a really filling meal. It’s a bit of a carb overload, given that it’s got pasta and pastry. But it’s comfort food that people with Maltese parents like mine grew up eating in Australia.
“To us, it’s a dish that’s full of memories.”
