Mediterranean Easy Baked Macaroni with Béchamel Sauce

Easy Baked Pasta with Béchamel Sauce

         Turkish Style Baked Pasta with Ground Beef & Bechamel Sauce (Fırında Kıymalı Makarna)

         Actually, in this post, we are going to share our one of byreks (Turkish Pastries, börek) recipe. But, our best friend Selma called last friday and mentioned that "Mediterranean Easy Baked Macaroni with Béchamel Sauce". This is an Egyptian dish. It is high in fat, but sure it is very tasty. When we were children, we were dying of this dish. Generally it is preferred for the special parties, friend days or family week-end dinners. So, we changed our plans and decided to make this pasta dish for Sunday dinner instead. Yes, we did. We cooked this pasta dish for our families at last Sunday. You may like our Homemade-pizza-recipe ,  3000-years-old-pita-develi-civiklisi-recipe ,  Turkish-pide-kiymali-pide-recipe .

Fırında Kıymalı Makarna Tarifi

         What is Mediterranean Easy Baked Macaroni with Béchamel Sauce?

         As we mentioned in the earlier posts on the blog. Mediterranean Cuisine is one of the oldiest cuisine in the world. Besides, Mediterreanen Cuisine is not managed by the single culture. But when we look at the Mediterranean Cuisine, it is so many product of cultural influence and exchange. For example, one of them is Egyptian Cuisine. Egyptian Cuisine is one of the old Cuisines in the Mediterranean region. If you know anything about the Egyptian Cuisine, you will know that sauce is very important for the meals. Especially "Béchamel Sauce" is number one among the sauces. It is involved nine times out of ten meals in the Egyptian Cuisine. Egyptian creamy, delicious and Macaroni with Béchamel Sauce dish (A ground meat mixture between two layers of Macaroni -pasta- smothered in a creamy Bechamel Sauce) has long been a staple in Egyptian households everywhere. 

       Further more, especially, Egyptian's Béchamel Sauce and other sauces are very popular and famous throughout the Regions of Mediterranean. For example, In Turkey, Turkish Style Baked Pasta with Ground Beef & Béchamel Sauce (Fırında Kıymalı Makarna) dish very popular among the Turkish people. This dish is originaly comes from Egyptian and we loves it very much.  You may like our  Easy-breakfast-rolls-recipe ,  Rose-shaped-turkish-pogaca-pastry-recipe ,  Cotton-soft-home-made-turkish-pogaca.html .

     

         How to Make Easy Baked Pasta with Béchamel Sauce?

         As we mentioned above of the this post, we, as Turkish people love this dish very much. Actually, preparing this pasta dish is very easy. As sipmly, we can say that; this pasta dish is a ground meat mixture between two layers of Macaroni -pasta- smothered in a creamy Béchamel Sauce. We, generally cook this pasta for special days, such as; parties, friend meetings or at weekends dinner for family meetings.

        Here it is our Turkish Style Baked Pasta with Ground Beef & Bechamel Sauce (Fırında Kıymalı Makarna) Dish Recipe; Also you like our Tres-leches-cake-3-milk-cake-dessert-recipe ,  Green-cake-recipe- .

      Serving: 4-6 Servings, Prepare Time: Nearly 20 minutes, Cook time: 30-40 minutes, Cuisine: Mediterranean, Egyptian and Anatolian Cuisines, 

Boil Spaghetti Pasta in Lightly Salted Water

Chop the onions, garlic and green peppers

Chop the onions, garlic and green peppers

Preparing mixture of meat, onions, garlic and green peppers

Preparing mixture of meat layer

         Ingredients:

         - 350-400 gr Spaghetti Pasta,

         - 400-500 gr Ground beef, (if you want, you can use ground lamb or others)

         - 3-4 Garlic cloves, finely chopped,

         - 1 Large and big Onion or 2 normal size onions, finely chopped,

         - 2-3 Green Peppers,  chopped,

         - 1 or 1,5 Tablespoons Olive oil, 

         - A pinc of Salt to taste,

         - A pinc of Groubd black pepper to taste,

         - 2 Eggs, lightly beaten,

       - 1,5 Cups of grated or sliced Pale Yellow Cheese/Mozzarella Cheese -As Turkish; we call it Kaşar Peyniri-  (or Parmesan cheese), (in this recipe we used sliced Pale Yellow Cheese/Mozzarella Cheese cheese - it is nearly 500 gr),

         For Béchamel Sauce:

        - 2 Cups Milk,

        - 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour, 

       - 5-6 Tablespoons Butter or margarine (but we recommend that butter),

       - 1 or 2 Eggs, beaten,

       - 1 Teaspoon or a pinch of salt to taste,

       - 1 Teaspoon or a pinch of ground black pepper to taste,(it is optional),

      Preparation:

      First of all take all ingredients on your work-table. Firstly, we should boil our spaghetti pasta in lightly salted water. So, take your spaghetti pasta and cook it in a big pot of slightly salted water till al dente. Drain and rinse under cold water to cool them slightly. Then, set the spaghetti pasta aside. Meanwhile, in a non-stick saucepan, drizzle your olive oil (1 or 1,5 tablespoons olive oil), add in the finely chopped garlic and fry till fragrant. Then, add in your chopped onions and choped green peppers, fry for a while before adding in ground beef (this process takes nearly 5 minutes). When your onions are translucent, add your ground beef and mix well and cook over medium heat until its pink color disappears (this process takes another 5 minutes). Then, add a pinch of ground black pepper and salt to taste. Then, turn down the heat to low and let it simmer for 8-to-10 minutes. 

Preparing Béchamel Sauce

Flour, butter, milk, eggs for preparing Béchamel sauce

If flour particles do not dissolve, you can use a blender

Mix boiled spaghetti and Béchamel Sauce well

Mixture of spaghetti & Bechamel sauce

         (Preparation of Béchamel Sauce):

         First of all, take your butter and place it in a pot and melt. Add your all purpose flour and sauté over low heat till its color change to yellow. Then add milk and stir continuously to make your béchamel Sauce smooth and even. (Bye the way, let us to explain one thing; If flour particles do not dissolve, you can use a blender.) Add salt and cook for 3 or 4 minutes. Lastly, stir in the egg and sprinkle some black pepper if you like. 

Pour half of the the pasta then place the meat mixture in the oven tray

Top with the rest of the pasta and flatten top layer

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350 °F). Then Bake your dish

        When your Béchamel Sauce ready. Firstly, pour your Béchamel Sauce and boiled spaghetti pasta in a deep bowl and mix well (Pour the Béchamel over the pasta making sure to pour sauce down in to the corners as well). You should mix well the Béchamel Sauce and boiled spaghetti pasta in a deep bowl. Then, take your oven tray and grease its bottom. Then, pour half of the the pasta and Béchamel Sauce mixture in the oven tray. Spread it throughout the tray and press down so that they are somewhat flat. Then, add the mixture of meat (meat, olive oil, ground black pepper, salt, garlic, onions and green peppers) filling in an even layer to the pasta. Then place your sliced Pale Yellow Cheese/Mozzarella Cheese (or sprinkle your grated cheese) on it. Top with the rest of the pasta and flatten top layer as best you can. Then, place the rest of the sliced Pale Yellow Cheese/Mozzarella Cheese (or sprinkle grated cheese) with red pepper flakes on top. After these processes, preheat the oven to 180°C (350 °F). Bake your dish for approximately 35-45 minutes or until the top turns a nice golden color. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 15 minutes before serving.  

         ENJOY

Mediterranean Easy Baked Macaroni with Béchamel Sauce

      Please let us know how this "Turkish Style Baked Pasta with Ground Beef (Fırında Kıymalı Makarna) Recipe" turns out for you in the comments. We are always so eager to hear from you. You may like our  Turkish-home-made-baklava-recipe ,  Newspaper-baklava-recipe ,  Rose-baklava-recipe .

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