White cabbage and minced meat casserole with béchamel sauce

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 500 g potato(s), waxy
• ½ head of white cabbage
• 1 onion(s), finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 bell pepper(s), red or yellow, diced or sliced
• 500 g minced beef
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 60 g butter
• 30 g flour
• 200 ml milk
• 200 ml vegetable stock
• 1 tsp mustard
• 150 g Emmental cheese, grated
• salt and pepper
• nutmeg
• Sugar
• some oil for frying

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour 15 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 45 minutes

nice and juicy

Boil the potatoes in salted water for 15 minutes, then drain, rinse, and peel. Cut into slices about 0.5 cm thick. Cooled potatoes from the day before are best because they are easier to slice than freshly cooked ones. Remove the outer leaves from the cabbage, cut half the cabbage in half, remove the stalk, and cut the cabbage into fine strips. Fry the diced onion and garlic in a little oil until translucent, then add the tomato paste and brown briefly. Add the minced meat and fry until crumbly. Season with salt and pepper. Melt 10 g of butter in a second pan and sauté the cabbage with the paprika for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg. For the béchamel sauce: Melt 30 g of butter in a saucepan, add the flour, and stir vigorously with a whisk to prevent lumps. Lightly brown the flour, then slowly add the milk and stock while stirring until all the liquid is in the pot. If it’s too thick, add a little more stock. Let the sauce simmer gently for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent it from sticking. Season to taste with salt, pepper, sugar, and mustard. Stir 50g of the cheese into the sauce. Grease a baking dish and preheat the oven to 180°C (top/bottom heat). Then layer everything in the baking dish as follows: potato slices, white cabbage, minced meat, and béchamel sauce until you have one layer of white cabbage and one layer of béchamel sauce left. Then add the remaining white cabbage, then the remaining béchamel sauce, on top of the last layer of minced meat. Finally, add the 100g of Emmental cheese to the béchamel sauce and 20g of butter flakes. Bake the casserole for about 45 minutes, until the cheese is lightly browned.