Favorite casserole- with macaroni, cream topping, minced meat tomato sauce and spinach

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 300 g macaroni, long or short to taste
• 300 g minced beef
• 1 small onion(s)
• 1 small carrot(s)
• 1 small piece(s) of celery
• 1 can of tomatoes, chopped (approx. 450 g) or pureed tomatoes (approx. 500 ml)
• 1 pinch(s) of sugar
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• some water
• 400 ml cream
• 4 m.-sized eggs
• 500 g leaf spinach, frozen or more to taste
• 1 small garlic clove(s)
• 2 balls of mozzarella
• 1 handful of Parmesan, freshly grated
• 1 handful of basil leaves
• 2 tbsp oil
• Salt and pepper, from the mill
• n. B. Italian herbs, e.g. rosemary, thyme and oregano

Instructions

Working time approx. 40 minutes; Rest time approx. 5 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 3 hours; Total time approx. 3 hours 45 minutes

A little more effort, but a brilliant result, it’s worth it, for a large casserole dish

Thaw the spinach in a pan. Remove the cream and eggs from the refrigerator (the resulting sauce will set faster if both are at room temperature). Cut the mozzarella into thin slices (e.g., using an egg slicer) and drain well in a colander. First, prepare the Bolognese sauce. It’s very important to create a thick sauce, which can be heavily seasoned. Finely dice the carrots and celery, or grate them coarsely. Finely dice the onion and sauté in hot oil in a pan until translucent. Add the ground beef and fry until crisp. Add the carrots and celery, fry briefly again, and season with salt and pepper. Deglaze with the chopped tomatoes and add herbs, if desired (I use a sprig of rosemary, thyme, and oregano, and the basil stems, but dried herbs also work). Simmer for a while on low heat with the lid closed. I usually leave a Bolognese on the stove for about 3 hours, but less time is fine here. Check occasionally to see if there is still enough liquid; if not, add a little water. Finally, season the sauce generously with salt, pepper, and perhaps a pinch of sugar. Remove the herbs and thicken with tomato paste if necessary. The consistency should be more of a paste, not a runny consistency, as you don’t want it to mix with the cream later. While the Bolognese is simmering, bring a pot of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta until just tender; it will continue to cook in the oven. Drain and set aside. You can, but don’t need to, rinse it. Peel the garlic clove and place it in the garlic press. Bring the spinach to a boil in its own thawed water, add the garlic, season with salt and pepper, and mix everything well. Set aside to infuse. For the topping, whisk the cream and eggs in a suitable container with 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of salt, a little pepper, and a good pinch of nutmeg. Preheat the oven to 180°C (top/bottom heat). Place the pasta in a large baking dish and toss with the cream topping. Squeeze the spinach well and arrange it in small nests on top of the pasta, ensuring everyone gets a bit. Scatter fresh basil leaves over everything. Spread the meat sauce over the top. Place the casserole in the oven on the middle rack for about 20 minutes. After this time, add the mozzarella and sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese. Bake in the oven for another 20 minutes, until the cheese is nicely melted and browned. The cream topping should now be set. You can briefly use the oven’s grill function to achieve the desired browning. How quickly the egg topping sets depends on the size of the baking dish used. If you use a wider dish, everything will be flatter and set more quickly. With a taller dish, it will take longer for the heat to reach the center of the casserole. The temperature of the pasta, cream, and eggs also influence the oven cooking time. A tomato salad, for example, would go well with this, but I’m fine without it. Tip: If you let the casserole rest for a few minutes after taking it out of the oven, it will become a bit more compact and easier to portion and remove from the dish. The preparation time given is for someone who is used to doing a lot of things at the same time in the kitchen. If you do all the steps one after the other and don’t work in parallel, it will of course take longer.