8/28/20: Macarona Bachamel

Mostafa Saafan took us on a virtual culinary journey and taught us all how to make his festive Macarona Bachamel (Egyptian Baked Pasta) recipe!

1. Get your pasta ready to boil!

2. 1 tablespoon of olive oil in your pan and warm it up over medium-high heat, add your sliced onion (about 1 medium-large onion) and stir until you see some reddish color form on the onions. Add all of the meat to your pan with the onion. Don’t forget to wash your hands!

3. Keep stirring the meat/onion dish in the pan until there’s no red left in the meat. Try to mince the meat while you stir so there are no large chunks. The meat should look cooked through and brownish. While your meat is cooking, add your pasta to your boiling water, add a tablespoon (?) of olive oil and a tablespoon of salt to your pasta, and stir. Keep stirring occasionally to make sure pasta doesn’t stick.

4. Add your 1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg (or grind it 15 times) to the meat, also 1 teaspoon of pepper and 1 tablespoon of salt. Next add 4-6 tablespoons of tomato paste onto the meat. Start to stir the meat to combine it all together.

5. Strain your pasta once done boiling, don’t forget to shake it to make sure you drain all the water! Make sure to cover everything (your strained pasta, your meat) to make sure it retains moisture and stays warm. Time to make the sauce! Add your 5 cups of milk to the pot, and turn the heat on. Grab your flour (1 cup) and add before the milk gets hot. Start whisking right away! You don’t want to see chunks of flour forming. You’ll be whisking for about 7 minutes, so get ready!

6. Crack an egg into a bowl and stir it up, then drop it into the sauce. Keep whisking, then add about 1-2 tablespoons of butter. Add in about 1.5 tablespoons of pepper, and 1 tablespoon of salt. Keep whisking, but turn off the heat and let it settle.

7. Pre-heat the oven to 390. Add half of a tablespoon to your baking dish (about 11x7 pan) and coat. Start to add layers: 2 tablespoons of Bachamel, then a layer of pasta, then a layer of minced meat (just enough to cover the pasta up), then a layer of pasta, then a layer of Bachamel all over (spread it all over the top), then a layer of mozzarella. Put in the oven for 30 minutes to an hour.