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Classic Baked Macaroni Béchamel with Minced Meat

servings: 7 · 1 h 5 min · Collection: archive · Licence: CC BY 4.0

The undisputed star of Egyptian festive banquets. Penne tossed with rich white sauce, layered with spiced beef filling, and crowned with a golden, bubbling béchamel crust.

Document (JSON) Original page on fifi.cooking

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Ingredients

  • Penne rigate pasta500g penne rigate
  • Cooked classic Assag minced meat filling400g seasoned minced meat with onions
  • All-purpose white flour5 tablespoons flour
  • Egyptian baladi ghee or butter5 tablespoons ghee
  • Whole milk & rich broth1 liter milk + 1 cup warm broth
  • Whole egg & nutmeg1 egg beaten + pinch of nutmeg
  • Grated Egyptian Rumi cheese1/2 cup grated cheese for crust

Allergens (inferred from ingredient names): cereals_gluten, eggs, milk

Nutrition per serving (modelled estimate, not measured): kcal 640, protein 30, fat 30, carbs 62, fiber 3, sugar 8

Original steps

  1. Boil penne pasta in salted water until just al dente (about 8 minutes). Drain without rinsing.
  2. Melt ghee in saucepan, whisk in flour for 2 minutes until golden. Gradually pour milk and warm broth while whisking continuously until smooth and thick. Season with salt, white pepper, and nutmeg.
  3. Mix one-third of the hot béchamel sauce into the cooked pasta.
  4. Spread half the pasta in a buttered baking dish, distribute the savory minced meat filling evenly, then cover with remaining pasta.
  5. Pour remaining béchamel smoothly over top. Whisk an egg into the top layer or sprinkle with grated Rumi cheese.
  6. Bake in 200°C (400°F) oven for 30 minutes, then brown under broiler until surface is bubbling and golden-crusted. Rest 15 minutes before slicing.

This is a V0 document: the original ingredients and steps from fifi.cooking, with quantities parsed from the text where possible. No step has been classified, measured or verified, so a device assigns every step to a person and refuses to cook it alone (RFC-0009). It becomes V1 when a reviewed process graph replaces the steps.

Source: Dr. Fatma Alkawokgy family archive, fifi.cooking. Family recipe archive of Dr. Fatma Alkawokgy (1943-2026), chapters 1 to 6, published at fifi.cooking