Cabbage and ricotta timbale, take two

As mentioned in my previous post about the cabbage and ricotta timbale recipe from the New York Times, I wanted to try making the timbale again using green cabbage, as the red cabbage resulted in a purple hued timbale, which was just odd.  (Note that recipe did call for green cabbage, but I used red because it was what I had in the fridge.)

I decided to make a few changes to the recipe.  This time, I didn't add any hard boiled eggs, but I did add some cooked penne.  If you've seen the movie, Big Night, you'll probably remember the scene where they made the timbale.  Inspired by that memory, I put in the pasta.  (Yes, I probably should have kept the hard boiled eggs in it as well, if I was going by the movie.)

I increased the number of eggs from 4 to 6 and put in a heaping cup of ricotta instead of the 3/4 cup in the original recipe, as I figured I should have more to bind everything together with the addition of the penne.  Everything else stayed true to the original recipe.

The result:

I'm thinking that I should use a springform pan for this recipe, as I did when I used to make spaghetti pie years ago (it was good -- should make that again sometime), because a bit of the timbale always seems to get stuck to the bottom of the dish.

A view inside:

Verdict: I think it looked much better with green cabbage than with the red.  The addition of pasta was a good change, and it made the timbale into more of a main than a side.  I liked it without the hard boiled egg; I would stick to that change even if not putting in pasta.  Husband thought it tasted too cabbage-y, but I didn't think it was more so than last time. 

Would I make it again?  Yes, but hopefully I won't need to do so for a while.  The CSA email a couple of weeks ago promised that we were seeing the last of the cabbage, so hopefully there won't be more for many, many months.  I still have one head of red cabbage in the fridge....