Tube Pasta Lasagna

This is lasagna disquised as something else. We line a spring-form pan (7 or 9 inch) with paccheri (tube) pasta, fill it with a ground beef/tomato sauce, layer with a cheesy bechemel, then bake.

Oct 26, 2023

Pasta

16-18 ounces Paccheri (tube) pasta

Meat Sauce

1 pound (a little more is OK) ground beef

4 TBS olive oil

1 small-medium onion..finely chopped

2 cloves garlic (or 2 TBS from a jar)

4 ounces chicken stock

18 ounces (a little more is OK) canned crushed tomatoes

1 tsp sugar

1 bay leaf

Salt to taste, about 1 tsp

Pepper to taste, about 1 tsp

1/3 Fresh chopped parsely

a few fresh thyme sprigs, if you have them.

Béchamel Sauce

4 ounces butter

4 ounces flour

Milk..about 2 cups, maybe more

Salt & Pepper to taste

1/2 tsp nutmeg

4 ounces grated white cheese of your choosing (white cheddar. parmesan, etc.)

4 ounces grated MOZZARELLA cheese to finish prior to dish going into oven

PREPARE

Boil the pasta for 3-4 minutes; this partially cooks it. Remove immediately to bath of ice water.

Line your pan with cooled pasta tubes, all facing up.

Cook the ground beef in the olive oil. Its going to be in the oven for a long time so its not necessary to cook it beyond the rare point. After its cooked, ensure thats its ground down as finely as possible.

Add the tomato sauce and everything else down to the thyme.

Continue to cook over medium heat for 5 minutes..remove the bay leaf. Turn off heat and let sit.

Prepare the Béchamel Sauce by heating the butter in a pan over medium heat. Once melted, slowly add the flour and stir adding the milk until you have a very smooth "saucy" consistancy. Add the nutmeg, S&P and 4 ounces of white cheese. Remove pan from heat and continue to stir

Pour the meat/sauce mixture carefull over the top of the pasta tubes ENSURING TO FILL EACH ONE COMPLETELY. Smooth the top with a spatula.

Carefully pour a thin layer of the Béchamel Sauce over the top of everything; smooth again with a spatula. Sprinkle the MOZZARELLA cheese over the top.

Place the pan in a 360 degree oven for 30-40 minutes, or until the top is a golden brown.

Remove pan from oven and let sit at least 10 minutes before opening the spring form. Place your masterpiece over a nice serving dish, sprinkle with a little more parsely and serve immediately.

CHEF's NOTES:

• Its very important to ensure that each pasta tube is filled with the sauce. This will be difficult if your sauce is too thick. To ensure a thinner sauce you can transfer the cooked meat to food processor and grind it down before adding the tomatoes. Adding the chicken stock also serves to thin it out a bit more.
• A spring form pan works great; but you can do this in a casserole dish as well
• One disadvantage of using a spring-form pan, is that it will leak at he bottom during cooking. So ensure its protected with tin foil or placed on a cookie sheet
• Once the Béchamel is completed, it will thciken as it cools. You may have to add some more milk to thin it down just before topping the meat sauce with it