My Baked Macaroni Experiment

Baked macaroni is just so lovely!  It's my husband's first taste of it and he certainly loved it so I might have to bake this again sometime. 

A little bit of trivia --- I didn't know that there's a legend that Marco Polo found this macaroni in China and brought it to Europe!  but then again, it's just a legend...if you want to read more about it and some macaroni info, you can go to this http://www.cliffordawright.com/caw/food/entries/display.php/id/50/


Ingredients
500 g elbow macaroni (cooked according to package instruction)
1 c grated cheese
1 tin tomato sauce
1 tin whole tomatoes w/ sauce
1/2 k lean minced beef
6 pcs hotdogs, sliced diagonally
100 g bacon pieces
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp sweet basil
1 tsp italian seasoning
1 tsp sugar
1 large onions, minced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1 red capcicum, chopped
1 carron, cut into little cubes
1 1/2 c beef broth
salt and pepper to taste

Procedure
Sautee onions, garlic and capcicum.
Add in the minced beef.  Just before it gets cooked add in the hotdogs and bacon.
Add in carrots.
Put in the seasonings and herbs.  Stir well.
Pour in the tomato sauces and the beef broth.
Simmer until thick.

Pour into the pasta (large baking dish) and mix well.
Top w/ bechamel sauce and grated cheese.
Cover the dish w/ foil.
Bake in a 200C preheated oven for 1 hour or until the top turns a little brown.  (Remove foil just 10 minutes before the baking time is over)

A comment or two will be appreciated...

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Easy Bechamel Sauce

I thought making bechamel sauce would be a big job but it was not as difficult as I thought it would be.  Most recipes don't usually ask you to add salt and pepper but I'd rather add these things so that the sauce would have more flavour in it.

Bechamel is actually white sauce and it is said to be the mother of all sauces in French Cuisine and is used in Italian recipes.  It was named after "marquis de Bechamel"  who was a financier and held the title of chief steward to Louix XIV(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9chamel_sauce). 

Ingredients
4 c fresh milk
1/3 c plain flour
40 g butter
1/2 c grated cheese (cheddar or parmesan)
a pinch of nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

Procedure
Mix milk and plain flour in a bowl.
Melt butter in a non stick pot.
Put the fire on low.
Pour the milk-flour mixture onto the pot.
Continue mixing.
Add salt and pepper.
Remove from fire when it is thick.
Mix in nutmeg and cheese.
Pour on top of your pasta.
A comment or two will be appreciated...

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