Gooey Cheesy Pasta Bake
The American version of the Greek dish Pastitsio. Pasta gets mixed with homemade meat sauce then topped with a bechamel sauce and baked til golden on top and bubbly.
Ingredients
- 1 lb cavatapi
Meat Sauce
- 1 lb sweet italian sausage
- 1 lb ground chuck
- 1 onion diced
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 15 oz can tomato sauce
- 12 oz tomato paste
- 1/2 c water
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/4 c fresh parsley, chopped
Bechamel Sauce
- 4 tbsp salted butter
- 1/4 c flour
- 2 c whole milk
- 1 c heavy whipping cream
- 3/4 c parmesan cheese
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Brown sweet Italian sausage and ground chuck together. Cook until the pink is gone and drain the fat. Add a diced onion to the pan along with the cooked meat. Cook 15 minutes over low medium until the meat caramelizes and the onion is soft.
- Add minced garlic and cook 1 more minute.
- Add crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, water, sugar, dried parsley, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and fresh parsley. Stir. Cover and simmer for an hour.
- For the bechamel, melt 4 TB butter in a saucepan and add flour. Whisk and cook 2 minutes.
- Add whole milk and heavy whipping cream and continue whisking over medium heat until thick.
- Add parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and whisk until blended and thick.
- Cook a pound of cavatappi pasta in salted water until just under al dente, about . Drain.
- Mix pasta into the meat sauce. Stir. Add to a 9x13 pan. Cover with the bechamel sauce. Top with parmesan cheese and bake at 350 degrees until it's brown and bubbly on top.
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