About the Recipe
I just got engaged this past weekend! I am so excited and I thought it would be the perfect time to share one of my fiancé's favorite dishes. He is Egyptian and this dish is a quintessentially Egyptian. It's layered penne pasta with bechamel sauce and seasoned beef. It's so rich and filing in every best possible way.
Ingredients
1lb ground beef
1lb penne pasta
1 large onion, chopped, about 2C
2Tbsp garlic, minced
1/2Tsp thyme, dried
1Tsp seven spice
1/2Tsp nutmeg
2Tbsp ghee or oil
1Tbsp tomato paste
1C tomato sauce
8Tbsp butter
1C flour
8C milk
2 eggs
Salt
Black Pepper
Preparation
1: Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2: In a sauté pan over medium heat, add ghee, onion,1/4Tsp salt, and sauté for a couple of minutes. Add in the beef and mix. Once the beef is cooked through, add in the garlic, 3/4Tsp salt, 1/2Tsp black pepper, 1Tsp seven spice, 1/2Tsp thyme, and sauté for a minute. Next, add in tomato paste and cook for 30 seconds, then add tomato sauce, cook for another minute. Set beef aside to come to room temperature.
3: To prepare the bechamel, melt butter in a large stock pot over medium heat. Add flour and whisk. Continuously whisking, add 2C of milk at a time until the 8C is gone. Making sure that it is never sticking to the bottom and thickened before adding the next 2C. When you add the last 2C, also add 2Tsp salt, 1/2Tsp nutmeg, 1Tsp black pepper. Cook until the sauce can coat the back of a spoon. Set aside.
4: Boil pasta in salted water until just before al dente. My box said 10-12 minutes, I boiled for 9 minutes.
5: Combine drained pasta with 2 1/2C of bechamel sauce.
6: Crack 1 egg into the beef mixture and combine. Crack 1 egg and add 1/2Tsp salt to the pasta mixture and combine. Make sure these mixtures are at room temperature, otherwise you will scramble your eggs.
7: To assemble the pasta, ladle 1C of bechamel sauce on the bottom of the pan. Top with ½ the pasta mixture, and then 1 ½ C of bechamel sauce. Next, evenly add all the beef. Top with remaining pasta, then remaining bechamel sauce.
8: Bake pasta for 45 minutes, then turn it on broil for 5-10 minutes, until the top is nicely browned. Allow to set for at least 30 minutes before slicing those beautiful even layers.