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Classic middle-eastern macaroni dish. Makes a big casserole dish, you may want to half it if your family is small.
Ingredients:
1 lb. small-shaped pasta like elbow-shaped or shells
Beef filling:
1 lb. ground beef
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup water
Bechamel sauce:
6 cups milk, whole or 2%
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons fresh, chopped parsley
Preparation:
- Boil pasta in salted water until done, drain and rinse, be sure not to overcook the pasta as it will cook a little more in the oven later.
- In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat and saute onion and garlic until lightly browned and add ground beef, cook beef completely.
- Add tomato paste, water, cinnamon, cumin, salt and pepper. Adjust salt to your taste and set skillet aside.
- Put the milk in a plastic bowl and microwave for 4 to 5 minutes to warm it, this is important because adding cold milk to your roux may cause it to lump.
- In the same pan as you boiled the macaroni (to save on the amount to pans used), melt butter over medium heat and whisk in flour. Cook for one minute, keep whisking. Bring warm milk and pour half into pan and quickly whisk to remove lumps. Add remaining milk and increase heat to medium-high. Add salt and pepper. Keep whisking slowly until milk comes to a boil. Simmer one minute and remove from heat.
- Bring a large casserole dish (15"x10"), greased with olive oil. In the same bowl you heated the milk in the microwave, add half the macaroni and 1/3 of the cream sauce, stir well and put in the dish. Sprinkle on the beef filling and spread carefully until macaroni is covered. Put the remaining macaroni in the bowl and another third of the cream sauce, stir well and pour over the beef filling. Pour, in a thin stream, the remaining cream sauce over the top layer of the macaroni until completely covered. Sprinkle on mozzarella cheese and bake in 375 degree oven, uncovered, until bubblely, about 20-25 minutes. Turn on the broiler and brown the cheese a little, just to make it look better with a little color on top. Sprinkle on parsley. Let it cool 15 minutes before cutting.
Tips:
This recipe makes awesome macaroni and cheese. Just omit the ground beef filling and add about 4 cups shredded, sharp cheddar cheese and 1/2 cup parmesean cheese to the milk mixture after it boils, stir it to melt the cheese, then add pasta. Sprinkle on another cup of cheese over the top before baking.
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