Greek Macaroni Hamburger Casserole Makaronia Phournista Recipes

CASSEROLE SUPREME (HAMBURGER MACARONI CASSEROLE)

Steps:

• Place the ground beef in a heavy skillet to brown, breaking it up with a spatula. If the meat is on the lean side, add a tablespoon or two of olive oil to the pan.
• Once the meat is about halfway done (some will be browned and some still pink or red), add the onion and garlic.
• Season liberally with salt and pepper.
• Cook until onions and garlic are softened and meat is completely cooked.
• Add the tomatoes and softened cream cheese
• Stir around so the cream cheese melts evenly into the tomatoes.
• Let simmer for about ten minutes or so.
• With the heat on low, stir in the sour cream.
• Taste and adjust the seasonings.
• Fold the sauce into your freshly drained pasta.
• Serve as-is or spoon into individual ramekins or a big old casserole.
• Bake at 350F until the pasta on top has a bit of crunch to it and the casserole is bubbling all around the sides.
• Let sit for ten minutes before serving.
• Enjoy!

GREEK MEAT PASTA (MAKARONIA ME KIMA)

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil; cook the rotini at a boil until tender yet firm to the bite, about 8 minutes; drain. Transfer to a large bowl and toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil.
• Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat; cook and stir ground beef until browned, about 10 minutes. Add tomatoes, onion, water, tomato paste, cinnamon, sugar, cayenne, salt, and pepper; stir to combine. Simmer meat sauce over medium-low heat until flavors combine, 20 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Pour meat sauce over rotini; mix well. Pour half the pasta mixture into a casserole dish; sprinkle with half the Mizithra cheese and half the mozzarella cheese. Top with remaining pasta mixture; sprinkle remaining Mizithra cheese and mozzarella cheese.
• Bake in the preheated oven until cheese is melted and bubbling, about 40 minutes.

GREEK MACARONI & HAMBURGER CASSEROLE (MAKARONIA PHOURNISTA)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Put water, salt, olive oil and in a large pot and bring to a boil.
• Add macaroni, cook until well done (9-10 minutes), and drain.
• Melt butter in sauce pan, add tomato paste, stir and mix well.
• Add sugar, salt, cinnamon, oregano, orange rind, orange juice, bay leaves, and cloves, and stir well.
• Continue stirring while slowly adding warm water.
• Cover and simmer until only 2/3 of the liquid remains.
• Season beef with salt and pepper, and sauté in olive oil until meat is dry, breaking up meat while browning, so it will not be lumpy when done (8-10 minutes).
• Add onions and garlic and continue to sauté until onion is yellow (3-5 minutes).
• Pour wine over this mixture, stir well, cover tightly, and set aside.
• When only 2/3 of the liquid remains in the tomato sauce, add the ground beef mixture.
• Continue to simmer covered until sauce is thickened.
• Keep hot.
• Put layers in a baking pan in the following order: (1) macaroni (2) meat sauce (3) kephalotiri cheese.
• Keep layering until everything is used up, with the last layer being the meat/tomato sauce.
• Cover the top layer with a single layer of kaseri cheese.
• Bake until the Kasseri is melted (2-3 minutes).
• Serve hot.