Pasta bake with white sauce
Our creamy pasta bake with white sauce is a popular dish that brings together the famed deliciousness of Italian, French, and Middle Eastern cuisines. This lasagne-like white sauce pasta bake with beef ragù with Middle Eastern spices is quick and easy to cook. Try it this Ramadan to experience flavours that will delight your tastebuds with cheesy and creamy béchamel and wonderfully spiced tomato ragù.
Ingredients
Bechamel sauce | 500 ml |
|---|---|
Grated mozzarella cheese | 225 g |
Of pasta | 1 Box |
Minced meat | 500 g |
Onion, chopped | 1 |
Garlic cloves, minced | 2 |
Salt | 1 tsp |
Black pepper | 1 tsp |
Mixed spices | 1 tsp |
Cinnamon | 1 tsp |
Oregano | 1 tsp |
Vinegar | 2 tbsp |
Tomatoes, chopped | 2 |
Tomato paste | 1 Box |
Instructions
Recommended information
Serving suggestion
Tips
Béchamel usually thickens as it cools down, so it is recommended to serve this dish warm and fresh. Keep leftover pasta bake with white sauce in an airtight container for 3-5 days in the fridge. To reheat it, you can put it in the microwave or heat it slowly in the oven. You may need to add some milk if the sauce is too thick.
Questions about pasta bake with white sauce
With this simple recipe, preparing a delicious lasagne-like cheesy pasta bake with white sauce is easy as pie. To learn more about it, keep reading our questions and answers below.
What is pasta bake with white sauce?
How to make pasta bake with white sauce?
How to make a pasta bake meat sauce?
What spices are good in a white sauce pasta bake?
Other recipes
Creamy baked pasta with béchamel sauce
Pasta with white sauce is a match made in heaven. If you agree, our pasta bake with white sauce recipe is just what you are looking for. Even in a lighter version, our pasta white sauce is rich, creamy, and delectable. Enriched with cheese and flavoured with warming, earthy, and slightly sweet nutmeg, it is perfect for rounding out Middle Eastern dishes with plenty of flavours.
If you have ever wondered what the difference between béchamel and white sauce is, the answer is that there is no difference. They are the same mouth-wateringly delicious sauce, and our version simply adds cheese to make it even better.
If using béchamel for pasta has made you more interested in the classic French sauce, you will be delighted to know that you can find béchamel in many of our other recipes like creamy potato bake, spinach cannelloni, and creamy mushroom soup.
Serve a layered pasta bake full of warm spices
This baked pasta with béchamel and beef ragù shares many characteristics with Italian lasagne. Both are made by layering pasta, tomato and meat ragù, and béchamel. Unlike traditional lasagne, this baked pasta with white sauce may be made with any pasta type. Mid-sized varieties like penne, rigatoni, farfalle, and conchiglie are great choices as all are well suited to thick sauces.
Our meat and tomato ragù is made with a base of ripe, sweet-tangy tomatoes and intense tomato purée. With garlic and onion, its flavours are deep. The vinegar brings a bit of acidic sourness to ensure the tomato sweetness does not overpower the savouriness of the beef. This makes space for the wonderfully warming spices to shine.
A spiced Middle Eastern twist on an Italian classic
To give it a distinctly Middle Eastern quality, the tomato and meat ragù for our pasta bake with white sauce is flavoured with cinnamon. This warming spice has a characteristic sweet-spicy flavour that is quite fragrant.
The spice's earthy and woody undertones lend it well to sweet as well as savoury dishes. It complements the slightly nutty taste of nutmeg in the béchamel well and is a great Arabic twist that makes this pasta bake with white sauce perfect for iftar.
Our version also features the Italian favourite oregano. This aromatic spice adds a slightly bitter taste with earthy and minty notes as well as a cooling property that balances the vibrant cinnamon perfectly, making for a complex and irresistible flavour profile in our pasta bake with white sauce.
Make it your own
Feel free to change the ingredients of this recipe according to your preferences. If you want to go all out on vegetables, remove the beef mince, and replace it with more vegetables than the chopped tomatoes. You can add carrot, onion, mushroom, beans, or a mix of different family favourites. You can also swap minced beef with chicken or lamb mince, creating a different but still equally delicious white sauce pasta bake.
If you need ideas for side dishes, you can serve your cheesy pasta with white sauce with garlic bread, maybe even cheesy garlic bread, soup, or a Middle Eastern rocca salad. Use parsley to garnish the pasta bake with white sauce for a dash of peppery freshness that is sure to brighten the hearty dish and make it look enticing when you serve it.
