Macaroni Beef

[Caroline J]

On my menu plan for this week

[Ostara]

Glad to hear I can adapt it to cook a "one pot" meal!

[Caroline J]

I forgot to report back!  This is a regular in our house now   I do a lot of tweaking depending what I have in the fridge.  It's a great meal for using up leftover veg.  I end up doing 50/50 meat and veg, but you cannot tell  .

[CreamPuff63]

Since others have attached photos of their finished dishes, I thought I would try and attach a photo of an appreciative devourer of the meal

Made this for tea tonight  and seeing as it made such a lot, DS18 was allowed a plateful on the side while I prepared the lasagne dish - he had a very similar look but photo only allowed to be taken if its for Facebook...aagh!

Only used 360g of minced meat, but added extra mashed pumpkin and zucchini and all the tweaks mentioned, and cooked the pasta separate. Another family favourite 5/5 - thanks johnro (and CTG for tweaks) for a lovely recipe 

[johnro]

Pleased to share it CP63, it is great when all enjoy a dish and families with littlies (or 18yr olds) can serve up something they will eat without the whinging 

[Yvette]

Made this the other night without the sauce kids liked it, quite tasty but I am not sure if I like mince cooked in the TM.

[maddy]

Nice and easy Robyn  Thank-you.

I used a full capsicum, whole zucchini, 600g beef mince, cracked pepper and added 2 tsp. pizza herbs to your sauce recipe.
I then cooked a full pack (500g) of macaroni on the stove (hubby has a lions appetite  )
I then placed it in a large roasting tray, and used 1/2 cup tasty cheese & 1/2 cup mozzarella in the bechamel sauce.
I did sprinkle some extra cheese on top......cos you can never have enough cheese 



I served it with a cucumber salad........was yummy!



Hubby will eat the leftovers tomorrow when he gets off the tractor 

[JulieO]

Oh my that does look good! 

[johnro]

Great pic maddy - I have always found it great for leftovers, given that it makes so much they are almost a guarantee in our ever shrinking household.  The recipe is great to freeze - do this before baking.  I use the foil baking trays with lids available from W'worths.   

[astarra]

another thank you from here, I have 3 very happy daughters, (5yrs, 2yrs & 10mths) & a very full happy DH - so of course I'm happy too.... . This made enough for our dinner and then 5 smaller portions to freeze for DH's lunches at work. He's been at me for a while to make him some lasagnes for his work lunches, but now decided this fits the bill instead! So quick and easy ... and I loved the fact that I could prepare it in the morning then put it in the oven on automatic - tea cooked while I got in and folded the days washing!! All round clear plates and big grins here.

oh I didn't have any tins of soup so used a tin of chopped tomatoes with basil and garlic, which i then filled the tin 1/2 way with water and added that too.  Because I was using this, I left the garlic out.  I sprinkled paprika and pizza topper over the extra grated cheese i put on top of the finished bake!(before cooking).

 

[auds]

I have mince thawed for tomorrow nights dinner so will give this a whirl.  It will also give me a chance to try the cheese sauce which i havent made yet 

[johnro]

Astarra I am pleased that your family's responses matched most who have tried this - has always been enjoyed at our place.  Hope that you are not disappointed Auds! 

[auds]

ok I totally naffed this up.  First thing I did wrong was have a couple of wines with the boss before I started 

oops should have done this BEFORE the wine - oh well

I didnt have peas so I chopped up some cabbage finely.  Also I blitzed the zucchini after I sauteed the onion garlic etc.  I forgot to put the mince in and cook that first - I put the lot in and cooked it all for 25 mins 

When I went to do the pasta I forgot to boil the water first and just stuck the pasta in the cold water - I cooked it for 10 mins and it wasnt quite done - so another 6 mins and it was just a fraction under.  I thought if it was going to be cooked in the oven for another 25 mins or so the pasta would be fine.

The bechemel was fine - I managed not to bugger that up although I thought it was a little bland and added a bit of extra salt and some grated parmesan as well as the other cheese (which I blitzed up before I added all the other bechemal ingredients)


Considering I fluffed it up so much it turned out surprisingly good.  I loved the cheesey sauce and I also let it sit for about 15 mins before I cut it up.

Will definately make again

[johnro]

Your post made me smile Auds, wine coupled with a number of cooking processes do not necessarily compliment each other.  This is even tastier as left overs    

[Halex]

I cant believe I missed this

This is fantastic for ds to have in the freezer when we have curry.

Going to use tinned tomatoes as I dont have a can of soup.

H