Pasta bake with mushrooms and bechamel

Today I'd like to share a recipe for a tasty and satisfying dinner: pasta bake with minced meat, bechamel and mushrooms.

 

 

30 minutes of work, 30 minutes of waiting - and a delicious dinner for the whole family is ready. The smell permeating the kitchen is amazing, and the bake is satisfying and full of flavour. We have a spicy meat sauce, velvety bechamel with a subtle nutmeg note and, of course, a cheese pull. A slice of this pasta bake after a tough day will warm up not only your belly, but also your soul. 

You'll find the list of ingredients, method and approximate nutritional value below.

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Ingredients

Sauce

• 1 onion (~160 g)
• 300 g white mushrooms
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp (~10 g) fresh basil leaves
• 2 tbso oil
• 500 g mince meat
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp marjoram
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• Salt and pepper to taste
  
• 1 can chopped tomatoes (~400 g)
• 1 tbsp tomato concentrate (~35 g)
  

Bechamel

• 2 tbsp unsalted butter (~30 g)
• 2 tbsp flour (~30 g)
• 500 ml milk
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• Salt and pepper to taste
  

Also

• 300 g dry pasta
• 1 mozzarella ball (~125 g)

Method

1. Chop one large onion finely. Clean 300 g white mushrooms and slice them into 2 mm halfmoons. Chop fresh basil finely, and 4 garlic cloves - roughly.
2. Heat up 2 tbsp oil in a large pan. Add cubed onion and fry it for a few minutes, until it becomes translucent.
3. Add sliced mushrooms to the fried onion and fry them on medium heat, stirring, until they decrease visibly in volume and turn beautiful golden colour. It should take around 3-4 minutes.
4. Add 500 g minced meat; continue frying for 4, 5 minutes until it gets cooked.
5. To the pan add chopped garlic, 1/2 tsp marjoram, 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, 3 medium pinches of salt and 2 generous pinches of ground black pepper. Stir the contents of the pan through until spices are well distributed.  
6. Add 400 g chopped tomatoes and a heaped tbsp of tomato concentrate to the sauce. Mix it through to distribute the tomatoes. Finish sauce off with chopped basil, stir everything together for one last time and cook for another minute to bring the sauce to boil. Once it happens, take the pan off heat.
7. Prepare bechamel. In a medium sized pan melt 30 g unsalted butter. Add 30 g flour and fry it, stirring constantly, until it releases a beautiful, nutty aroma. Turn the heat all the way down to low and pour in half of milk. Stir the contents of the pan until fully combined and smooth. Add in remaining milk, turn heat up to medium and bring the sauce to a slow boil, stirring. Once bechamel thickens up and starts resembling thin custard, turn the heat off, season sauce to taste with salt and black pepper, as well as 1/2 tsp nutmeg.
8. Cook 300 g pasta al dente in salted water.
9.  Into an ovenproof dish pour in two ladlefuls of bechamel and spread it across the surface. Put in half of cooked pasta and half of meat sauce. Spread it gently on top of pasta to create a solid, tomato-meat layer. Repeat the layers: half of remaining bechamel, pasta, meat sauce, bechamel. Put shredded mozzarella on top.
10. Bake the dish in a conventional oven preheated to 180 deg C for 30-40 minutes, until cheese melts and bakes in.
    
11. Take the bake out of the oven and set aside for 5-10 minutes to cool slightly. Decorate with fresh basil leaves before serving.
12. Enjoy!

Approximate nutritional value

100 g

• 164 kcal
• Carbs: 16 g 
• Fat: 7 g
• Protein: 9 g
• Fibre: 2 g

1 serving (recipe makes 6 servings)

• 565 kcal
• Carbs: 54 g 
• Fat: 24 g
• Protein: 33 g
• Fibre: 6 g