Greek Macaroni & Hamburger Casserole (Makaronia Phournista)
- Ready In:
- 55mins
- Ingredients:
- 24
- Serves:
-
10
ingredients
-
Macaroni
- 3 quarts water (12 cups)
- 1⁄2 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 lb elbow macaroni (I use Barilla PLUS) or 1 lb shell macaroni (I use Barilla PLUS)
-
Sauce
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 (12 ounce) can seasoned tomato paste
- 1⁄2 teaspoon sugar
- 1⁄2 tablespoon salt
- 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1⁄2 tablespoon grated orange rind
- 1⁄2 cup fresh orange juice (juice of 1 orange)
- 3 -4 bay leaves
- 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 1⁄2 cups warm water
-
Meat
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 1⁄2 teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
- 3⁄4 cup onion, finely chopped
- 4 -5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 cup red wine (I like Marsala wine)
-
Cheese
- 8 ounces kefalotiri (or to taste) or 8 ounces gruyere, grated (or to taste)
- 4 -5 ounces kasseri cheese (to cover top) or 4 -5 ounces cheddar cheese, sliced tissue thin (to cover top)
directions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Put water, salt, olive oil and in a large pot and bring to a boil.
- Add macaroni, cook until well done (9-10 minutes), and drain.
- Melt butter in sauce pan, add tomato paste, stir and mix well.
- Add sugar, salt, cinnamon, oregano, orange rind, orange juice, bay leaves, and cloves, and stir well.
- Continue stirring while slowly adding warm water.
- Cover and simmer until only 2/3 of the liquid remains.
- Season beef with salt and pepper, and sauté in olive oil until meat is dry, breaking up meat while browning, so it will not be lumpy when done (8-10 minutes).
- Add onions and garlic and continue to sauté until onion is yellow (3-5 minutes).
- Pour wine over this mixture, stir well, cover tightly, and set aside.
- When only 2/3 of the liquid remains in the tomato sauce, add the ground beef mixture.
- Continue to simmer covered until sauce is thickened.
- Keep hot.
- Put layers in a baking pan in the following order: (1) macaroni (2) meat sauce (3) kephalotiri cheese.
- Keep layering until everything is used up, with the last layer being the meat/tomato sauce.
- Cover the top layer with a single layer of kaseri cheese.
- Bake until the Kasseri is melted (2-3 minutes).
- Serve hot.
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
littleturtle
United States