Sartù di Riso

Americans believe Italian rice means risotto. They are wrong. The South has its own rice traditions, and sartù di riso stands among the most magnificent. This is a baroque creation, a molded timbale stuffed with tiny meatballs, cubes of melting cheese, hard-boiled eggs, sweet peas, and tomato ragù. When you slice it at the table, the interior reveals its treasures like a jewel box opening.

The name comes from the French 'surtout,' a type of elaborate centerpiece, because this dish arrived in Naples when the Bourbon kings brought French chefs to their court. But those French cooks learned something in Naples: the Italian instinct for ingredient integrity. The sartù they created was French in concept, Neapolitan in soul.

This is not a weeknight dinner. It requires components made separately, assembled with care, baked until golden. It rewards the cook who plans ahead, who understands that some dishes deserve the labor. For a holiday table, for a celebration, for the moment when you want to prove that home cooking can achieve magnificence, there is sartù.