Makaronia tou Fournou ( Oven Baked Macaroni)

Nobody in the whole wide world makes Makaronia tou Fournou ( Oven Baked Macaroni) better than my mother, Nina. This is her signature dish, and it tastes delicious. She makes Makaronia tou Fournou often, but for me, it isn't often enough. She usually makes Makaronia on special occasions like when my brother comes home from South Africa, during Easter, Christmas and most recently when we were all invited to my mother-in-law's place for dinner on New Years eve.
And as it went, everybody commented on Nina's Makaronia and how delicious it was. So I am dedicating this blog entry to Nina......geia sta heria sou!







Ingredients

3/4 of a packet macaroni
1 halloumi cheese grated
1/2 kg minced meat
1 large onion chopped
7 sprigs of parsley chopped
5 tbsp butter for the cream
2 tbsp for frying
7 tbsp of plain flour
1-1 1/2 litres of fresh milk
2 eggs beaten
salt
pepper
ground cinnamon
1 cube chicken stock


Method

1. Boil water with a cube of chicken stock and add the macaroni. Cook until done according to instructions on the package. When done, drain all the water and pour 1/2 the macaroni into a 30cm x 30cm pyrex dish and cover with 1/2 of the grated halloumi cheese.
2. Fry the minced meat in 2 tbsp of butter and then add the onions, parsley and salt, pepper and ground cinnamon to taste, until the meat is cooked. Remove from heat and pour 1/2 of the minced meat ontop of the macaroni and grated cheese to cover the whole area.
3. Melt the rest of the butter in a saucepan and add the flour. Mix with a whisk to get rid of all the lumps before you add the milk. When lump free, pour in 1 litre of milk and the beaten eggs. Mix until it is kind of thick. You might need to add more milk to get a nice concistany.
4. Pour just enough of the cream ontop of the minced meat to totally cover it. Then add the rest of the macaroni, the rest of the cheese , then the rest of the minced meat, and finally the rest of the cream.
5. Add a knob of butter in the middel and some on the sides and cook at 180 degree celcius for 45-60 minutes.