The wintery weather prompted me to make a lasagne, but when I arrived home I was asked to substitute the lasagne sheets with macaroni. Go figure!
My lasagne was instantly converted into ‘pasta al forno’. The method is largely the same but instead of layering the pasta sheets and sauce, the (semi cooked) macaroni is placed at the bottom of the oven dish and the meat is placed atop, covered by a decent layer of nutmeg spiced béchamel sauce.
It is enough to make you over hungry! A large baking dish will provide several meals, unless the first sitting does as it is expected and the whole lot goes!
Ing.
500g macaroni, I used San Remo
Sauce
1kg premium mince beef
1 tablespoon of olive oil (I used Cobram, but they are all good)
3 tins chopped tomatoes (Annalisa Italian are the best)
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 sprigs spring onion, chopped.
3 tablespoons tomato paste (Leggo’s)
1 handful of freshly chopped Continental parsley
1 heaped teaspoon Massel chicken stock
A good pinch of Murray River Pink Salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste
4 cups boiling water
2 eggs, beaten, for use later.
Béchamel sauce
60gms butter
1 cup plain flour
3 cups milk
1 cup Mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated parmesan (I always use Grana Padano)
Murray River Pink Salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste
A sprinkle of ground nutmeg or mace
Method
Preheat oven to 175C.
In a large pot, on medium heat, heat your onion in olive oil until gently golden. Add the mincemeat and try to break it up. A whisk breaks it beautifully. Let it cook with the lid on until it colours up and then remove the lid and let the liquid cook off. The drier it is the more absorbent it will be when you add the other things.
Now add the three tins chopped tomatoes and the tomato paste. Mix it up and let it cook. Add the parsley, spring onion, garlic, salt, pepper, boiling water (4 cups) and Massel chicken stock. Bring it to the boil, stirring occasionally. When it boils, turn the heat down to the lowest setting and put the lid on. Let it cook for about 30 mins or longer of you have time. The longer it cooks the better it will be.
Your pasta water should be already heating on the stove. Once the water boils, add a teaspoon of Murray River Pink salt. Add your macaroni and let it cook for about four minutes. Once it is semi-cooked, drain the water and set the macaroni aside to cool.
Bechamel sauce
There are two rules to making béchamel sauce.
Rule No. 1 Do not stop stirring!
Rule No. 2 If you stop stirring, refer to rule No. 1
To make the béchamel sauce, melt the butter on medium heat in a medium sized saucepan. Once melted, slowly add and stir in the cup of flour. A whisk works very well here too. It will start to get lumpy. Now add a cup of milk. Stir it about constantly trying to break up the lumps. Add another cup of milk, stir…, now add the third cup of milk and stir…
Once the lumps break down, add your two cups of cheeses, Murray River Pink salt, freshly ground pepper and a sprinkle of nutmeg. Stir, stir, stir.
When the sauce is thick, but not heavy, turn it off and cover with a lid. If it gets too thick it will want to become ‘bread like’ and that is not what we are looking for!
Assembly
In your baking dish place a thin layer of the meat sauce. Now mix the two beaten eggs with the mass of macaroni and layer it all on the bottom of the dish. Flatten it as much as you can. Ensure that there will be room for the meat sauce and the béchamel sauce on top, with enough clearance for a piece of foil not to stick to the sauce.
Once flattened, pour the meat sauce all over the macaroni and press it in. Now pour, from the saucepan, the béchamel sauce over the meat sauce. Using a fork, spread it evenly across the entire dish. If you want, sprinkle some cheese lightly over the sauce.
Cover with foil. If the sauce is too high and risks sticking to the foil, stand several, snapped to length, wooden or bamboo skewers upright in the dish, just high enough to hold the foil above the sauce.
Place into the oven and cook at 175C for about 40 mins. Then remove the foil, turn the heat down to 150C and cook for an additional 10 mins so the top browns up a little.
Let it cool before you slice it up into 12 pieces. The longer it cools the better the piece formation will be. The first piece is the hardest to remove cleanly! Otherwise no one should care about the presentation as it won’t last long enough to be admired!
Enjoy. This is great for the adults and the kids.
Kind regards,
Brendan
