Greek Macaroni & Hamburger Casserole (Makaronia Phournista)

Macaroni layered with a homemade meat sauce and Greek cheeses.

• Ready In: 55 mins
• 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

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Put water, salt, olive oil and in a large pot and bring to a boil.
3. Add macaroni, cook until well done (9-10 minutes), and drain.
4. Melt butter in sauce pan, add tomato paste, stir and mix well.
5. Add sugar, salt, cinnamon, oregano, orange rind, orange juice, bay leaves, and cloves, and stir well.
6. Continue stirring while slowly adding warm water.
7. Cover and simmer until only 2/3 of the liquid remains.
8. 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).
9. Add onions and garlic and continue to sauté until onion is yellow (3-5 minutes).
10. Pour wine over this mixture, stir well, cover tightly, and set aside.
11. When only 2/3 of the liquid remains in the tomato sauce, add the ground beef mixture.
12. Continue to simmer covered until sauce is thickened.
13. Keep hot.
14. Put layers in a baking pan in the following order: (1) macaroni (2) meat sauce (3) kephalotiri cheese.
15. Keep layering until everything is used up, with the last layer being the meat/tomato sauce.
16. Cover the top layer with a single layer of kaseri cheese.
17. Bake until the Kasseri is melted (2-3 minutes).
18. Serve hot.