During this time, stepping out of the house is very limited due to covid restrictions. Everyone is advised to stay at home and going outside is being checked and restricted to buying the essentials, going to work and essential related reasons only. So staying at home with family means more time to prepare foods and some are actually forced to cook their own as some restaurants are either closed down due to lack of business or if they are open, can only sell take-away meals.

This is one of my home quarantine menu because in most cases, I would use ingredients as per the usual recipe; but this time, I use whatever is available at home and I was actually surprised that it tastes better than the original one. Well, it could turn out more flavourful if I used minced beef, more cheesy if I used mozzarella but I am totally satisfied how this version turns out. In my pasta recipe that calls for spaghetti-like sauce, I would normally use the ever famous Del Monte spaghetti sauce (sweet-style, Italian or Filipino style) but this item is not widely available here in Australia although available in most Asian stores; and due to covid, I don’t want to take any chance to find one. The base is made of tomato sauce (which is known in the Philippines as ketchup) and pasta sauce ( I used Remano Pasta bake from Aldi $1.89).

Enough intro, let’s dive into the recipe.

Ingredients 🍶

450g elbow macaroni

For the pasta sauce:

• 1 500g pasta sauce (I used Remano Pasta bake; alternative is Dolmio or any other creamy tomato based pasta sauce)
• 500g tomato sauce (known as ketchup in the Philippines)
• 1 cup water
• 1 can 340g corned beef
• 6-8 pcs hotdogs/sausages, sliced
• 1/2 cup fresh milk
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 medium sized red capsicum, chopped into small cubes
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley
• salt, pepper to taste
• garlic, 1 onion

For béchamel sauce:

• 1/4 stick butter
• 2 tbsp. all purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley or 1 tsp dried
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tsp. fine black pepper

Procedure 🥄

• Cook pasta as per the packaging instruction. Drain and set aside.
• In a casserole, heat 1/2 cup of oil and sauté garlic and onion, add corned beef, salt and pepper and sauté for about 5 mins. Corned beef is not as juicy as real meat and so it can burn easily so just keep stirring.
• Add the grated cheese, sugar and milk and cook for 3-5 mins with occasional stirring.
• Add the pasta sauce, tomato sauce, water, capsicum and sausages. Bring it to a boil and continue cooking with occasional stirring for 10 minutes.
• Add the chopped parsley and turn off the fire.

Béchamel topping:

In a sauce pot, low fire, put the butter followed by flour. Using a wire whisk, stir until both are smooth but not reddish. Add milk, water and continue stirring for about a minute. Add cheese, keep stirring. Then finally add the salt, pepper, parsley and stir for another minute before turning off the fire.

Preheat oven to 340 degrees F (170 degrees C). Meanwhile, mix the pasta and the sauce and transfer it to a baking dish. On top, spread the béchamel sauce, you may add grated cheese on top (optional). Bake for about 25 – 30 minutes.

A common mistake is turning the fire on top to cook the toppings – this will only burn the béchamel and unbaked pasta that doesn’t bind together as it should be.

Enjoy!🍴

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