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Baked mac and cheese
To get cleaner cuts of baked mac and cheese, allow it to rest for at least ten minutes. Resting gives the sauces in the dish time to firm up a bit.
The sour dough tomato, onion and dill focaccia was baked by my daughter, Alex.
Course
Main Course
Cuisine
Fusion
Prep Time
30
minutes
minutes
Cook Time
6
hours
hours
30
minutes
minutes
Total Time
7
hours
hours
Servings
6
people
Author
Connie Veneracion
Equipment
Slow cooker
Ingredients
Ragu
1
kilogram
stewing beef
cut into one-inch cubes
salt
pepper
4
tablespoons
olive oil
1
cup
chopped onion
6
cloves
garlic
peeled and chopped
2
sprigs
oregano
leaves only
2
bell peppers
chopped
1
bay leaves
2
cups
diced tomatoes
canned is fine
1
tablespoon
sugar
1 ½
cups
red wine
Pasta
macaroni
salt
Mornay sauce
2
cups
Béchamel sauce
1
cup
shredded mozzarella
¼
cup
grated Pecorino
Instructions
Cook the ragu
Pat the beef dry with paper towels then toss with a tablespoon of salt and half a teaspoon of ground black pepper.
Heat the olive oil in a wide pan.
Spread the beef cubes in the hot oil and, over high heat, leave to allow the undersides to brown for a minute or so.
Stir the beef and continue cooking, tossing them around in the hot oil occasionally, until all sides are lightly browned.
Turn down the heat to medium, and add the onion, garlic, bell pepper, bay leaves, oregano, a tablespooon of salt and a quarter teaspoon of pepper.
Cook, stirring, until the vegetables soften.
Pour in the diced tomatoes, stir in the sugar, and bring to a simmer.
Add the red wine, stir and allow to boil gently for about ten minutes.
Taste and adjust the seasonings, if needed.
Transfer the meat, sauce and vegetables to the slow cooker.
Set the slow cooker to LOW and cook the ragu for five hours.
Cook the macaroni
Preheat the oven to 400F.
Cook the macaroni in boiling water with a tablespoon of salt.
When the noodles a just a bit undercooked, drain and return to the pan.
Take half of the ragu (reserve the other half for another time) and stir into the pasta.
Transfer the pasta and meat sauce to a baking dish.
Make the Mornay sauce
Start by making
Béchamel sauce
.
Add the cheeses to the hot sauce and stir until melted.
Bake the mac and cheese
Pour the Mornay sauce over the pasta and meat sauce.
Bake at 400F for 30 minutes or until bubbly and the top of the Mornay sauce has brown spots.