BEEF MILANO

Beef Milano Ingredients:

15g butter
180g onion, skinned and sliced
1 small clove garlic, skinned and finely chopped or crushed
2 level tabsps tomato paste
1/2 level tsp salt
1/2 level tsp pepper
450g raw minced beef
110g short macaroni, cooked
225g tomatoes, skinned and sliced
280 ml cheese sauce

Garnishing:
2 large tomatoes, sliced
small bunch of parsley or watercress

To Make:

Heat the butter in a pan, add the onion and fry slowly until soft and lightly coloured. Stir in the garlic and tomato paste. Add the salt and pepper and beef and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently, until the mince has separated and coloured. Lightly grease a 450g loaf tin.Divide the beef and macaroni in half. Place half the pasta on the base of the tin and cover with half the mince. Place the sliced tomatoes in a layer on top, covering with the remainder of the mince. Next, add the remaining pasta to the cheese sauce and pour over the top of the meat.

Place in an oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 200 Centigrade. Turn out on to a serving dish and garnish with sliced parsley or watercress and a few extra tomato slices.

To Make the Cheese Sauce:

280 ml milk
1/4 carrot, peeled and roughly cut
1/4 onion, studded with a clove
1/2 small sprig parsley
bouquet garni
a pinch of salt
a pinch of ground black pepper
60g butter
60g plain flour

60g grated Cheddar cheese

Method:

Heat the milk with the carrot, cloved studded onion, parsley, bouquet garni, salt and pepper. Bring the milk almost to the boil, remove from heat and leave to infuse for 30 minutes. Melt the butter in a large pan but do not overheat. Remove from the heat, add the flour and blend well together. Cook the roux for 3 minutes, remove from the heat and gradually add the warm, strained milk. Bring slowly to the boil, stirring . Add the grated cheese.

Cooking the Macaroni:

Most outer packaging of pasta has instructions on how to cook them. In case, you have thrown the packaging away, this is how you cook pasta. Put some clean water into a deep saucepan. The water level should cover the pasta. Add 1 tabsp of cooking oil in to the water. Put the saucepan on the heat and add in the pasta. Cook till the water boils.The pasta is cooked in about 7-8 minutes.Drain tthe water and toss tha pasta.

(The oil is added to prevent the pasta from sticking together)