« Home- ⏲️ Prep time: 15 min
- 🍳 Cook time: 50 min
- 🍽️ Servings: 6-8
Ingredients
Pasta layer
- 600g penne rigate
- salted water
Meat layer
- 1 large onion, finely diced
- 700g lean ground beef
- .5 TB ground allspice
- .5 TB ground cinnamon
- .25 TSP ground clove (optional)
- 340g tomato paste
Béchamel layer
- 226g butter
- 226g flour
- 1L cold milk
- 237ml chicken stock
- freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
- grated cheese (optional)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 190°C
- In a large pot of salted water, cook the pasta per package directions. Drain and set aside.
- Cook onion in a bit of oil until soft. Add meat and cook until browned, breaking meat into small pieces.
- Drain any excess grease and add spices. Stir together and cook ~30 seconds.
- Mix tomato paste with enough water to create a viscous tomato sauce. Add sauce to meat and simmer 2-3 minutes before setting aside.
- In a saucepan melt the butter and add the flour. Cook 2-3 mins until no longer starchy, whisking frequently. Add milk gradually and whisk continuously. Add stock and cook until sauce is thickened. Add nutmeg and season to taste.
- Add thin béchamel layer to bottom of casserole dish and assemble as follows: half pasta, all the meat sauce, 2nd half of pasta, rest of béchamel and cheese.
- Bake covered for 45 minutes, removing lid last 5-10 minutes to brown top. Let cool 15 minutes.