Macarona Béchamel مكرونة بالبشاميل

| By: Amel Saied Hassan|

If you are looking for a new relatively easy and delicious comfort food, look no farther from this baked pasta with bechamel sauce from Egypt called Macarona Bechamel. The combination of pasta, spiced meat, and Egyptian styled-Bechamel sauce leads to a creamy, flavorful, and rich meal. This has been my comfort food since I was a child and I look forward to sharing it with my friends back in Atlanta this fall. This dish has some moving parts but is a relatively easy dish to make with time. It is extremely popular in Egypt and, depending on where you are from, there are different takes on the recipe. ! بالهناء والشِفاء !

Ingredients

Yield: 8-10 servings

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 60 minutes

• 2 Boxes of penne pasta (16 ounce)

• 1.5 pounds of ground beef

• 1 Minced garlic clove

• 1 Onion chopped thinly

• 2 Teaspoons of cinnamon

• 1.5 pounds of fresh mozzarella

• 2 cups of warmed milk

• 1 cup of warmed heavy cream

• 1 cup of pasta water

• 4 sticks of butter

• ½ cup of all-purpose flour

• 1 small ginger

• Salt

• Black Pepper

• 1 Teaspoon of chili powder

• 1 Teaspoon of Italian seasoning

• 4 Cardamom seeds

• 2 Bay leaves

• 2 Teaspoons of Ground Allspice

Cooking Instructions

1. Pasta Instructions:

   1. Boil water and salt in large pot in order to add the pasta

   2. Use your pasta directions to prepare it

   3. Drain after set cooking time (approximately 25-30 min) and set aside for assembly later

2. Meat Instructions:

   1. Chop 1 onion and add into saucepan until translucent or light brown

   2. Add 1.5 pounds ground beef to saucepan

      1. (Tip: Go gradually to make the cooking process easier, and to not overwhelm you or the pan)

   3. Add 2 tsps. of cinnamon, black pepper, chili powder, allspice, ginger, Italian seasoning, bay leaves, and cardamom seeds

   4. Mix until well distributed and add salt to taste

   5. Drain the fat and keep meat for assembling later

3. Bechamel Sauce:

   1. Warm 2 cups of milk in small saucepan

   2. Add 1 cup of heavy cream to milk 2 minutes before cooking flour

   3. In separate saucepan, melt 4 sticks of unsalted butter on medium-high heat. Make sure to mix until all clumps are gone, and it makes a light-yellow-colored liquid consistency.

   4. Add the previously measured flour gradually and whisk until there are no bubbles or lumps

      1. (This is the most important step to be careful with in order to ensure you do not burn the base of the sauce or cause lumps and uncooked flour to come into the pasta later on. Whisk! You can also substitute a typical whisk for an electric one.)

   5. Add the warmed milk and heavy cream mixture to the flour pan gradually.

   6. Add white pepper and salt to taste while whisking the sauce until it becomes thick enough to cover the back of a spoon.

   7. Remove from heat before a top layer of “skin” is formed.

4. Assembly of the dish:

   1. Take half the bechamel sauce and add it to cooked pasta. Add 1/3 of the cut mozzarella cheese into the pasta.

   2. Mix until all are covered equally by the sauce and set aside for assembly.

   3. Add enough bechamel sauce to the base to cover the bottom of the tray of your choosing

   4. Add in half of your bechamel covered pasta and press down on any sticking parts that take away from the formation.

   5. Add all the seasoned meat to the next layer

   6. Add the second half of the bechamel covered pasta

   7. Use the remaining bechamel sauce that was set aside, and put it all over the tray and make sure everything is covered

   8. Use the remaining mozzarella cheese and top it off as the top layer of this dish.

   9. Put in over under 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes, or until the top layer is golden brown.

Notes

• If you want to balance the richness and heaviness of this dish, make a small Egyptian salad, also known as Salata Baladi, which is the side dish typically eaten next to this dish. It is a very quick and easy process and includes pomegranate molasses, olive oil, vinegar, cumin, lemon, sumac, chili powder, salt, pepper, tomato, radish, cucumbers, red onions, and parsley. Cut them in medium sized pieces, season, and enjoy it as a delicious and refreshing side dish next to the pasta. You can drink Karkaday (Hibiscus Tea) for the full experience of this great Egyptian meal.

• A lot of the dairy and meat can be swapped for healthier and more diet-accommodating foods. You can swap the beef for lamb or chicken, and the dairy for Vegan alternatives.

• All these ingredients can be found in any local grocery shop. The only difference is that in this recipe, the meat I used was Zabiha Halal ground beef and this will be found usually in your local Muslim butcher/meat shops or Muslim-owned grocery stores. But this is definitely not a requirement needed to make this dish. As for the salad, you may have a hard time finding pomegranate molasses and sumac unless you go to a local Middle Eastern/Turkish/Southwest Asian/North African shop, but you can also order it online in advance. The Karkaday is very easy to make but you may have difficulty finding it in American grocery stores, but the flower is usually at any North African or Mexican shop.

• This dish can be reheated multiple times, but it is best to finish eating within the week of making it in order to preserve the moisture, creaminess, and softness of it. Make sure to wrap in aluminum foil and store it while it is covered to prevent any change in taste due to the fridge/freezer.