Ingredients
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 onion, diced
1.5 quarts whole milk
6 eggs
1 package penne pasta
1 small can tomato sauce
1 stick butter
1 c. flour
corn starch
1/8 c.Parmesan cheese
1 cinnamon stick
nutmeg
salt and pepper
Preparation
Saute diced onion with a little olive oil in a pot big enough to add the ground beef to. When the onion turns clear, but not brown, you add the pound of ground beef and cinnamon stick. As the meat browns, toss in the sauce and keep stirring, until the sauce is absorbed and at low to medium heat. While that is all going you can boil the pasta in a separate pot until al dente.
Now that the pasta and meat are completed, grease the bottom of a very deep baking dish identical to what you would use for lasagna. Now you can preheat the oven to about 180 degrees C or 350 F. In the greased baking pan, evenly spread out penne pasta. On top of the pasta evenly spread out beef. Top with Parmesan. I use about an eighth of a cup, but feel free to use more, less or none. Now for the bechamel. Melt your stick of butter under low to med. heat. Add flour and whisk furiously. Just kidding. Stir, though until it stops smelling like bread, about two minutes. Grab your milk. Slowly pour in a thin stream of milk while you whisk furiously, for real this time, because it gets clumpy. You could heat the milk and then add it to prevent clumping, but thats for amateurs. You want to see a reasonably thick sauce. If it looks kind of watery, add corn starch until it thickens. Remove it from heat while you beat the six eggs. Slowly whisk bechamel gradually into the egg, until you have brought the egg to the temperature of the bechamel without making an omelet. You don’t, in other words, want to cook the egg. Then dump your egg/ bechamel mix back into the bechamel and whisk until incorporated under low/ med heat. This is your last layer so spread it evenly on top of ground beef/ parm. Sprinkle nutmeg on top and bake until golden brown. About a half hour.
