Macaroni casserole

Makaranoonilaatikko

Macaroni casserole is a typical Finnish food and a long-time favorite of the young and old. If you are studying in a Finnish school, then you must have tried macaroni casserole. It is usually served with ketchup and is quite similar to Mac & Cheese, but instead of cheese, it contains meat and milk. You can also replace the meat with a vegetarian version.

Ready in one hour, 6 servings

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups cooked macaroni

• 3/4 cups grated cheddar cheese

• 400 grams ground beef

• 1 onion, chopped

• 2 cups milk

• 3 eggs

• pinch of salt

• pinch of pepper

Directions

Heat the pan and brown the ground beef with the chopped onion. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius. Grease or spray oil in an ovenproof casserole dish if you wish, but not necessary. Add the cooked macaroni and meat/onion mixture. Whisk together milk and eggs, and add about half of the cheese. Pour the mixture over the macaroni and meat in the casserole. Top with the remaining cheese and bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until the cheese is golden brown and the casserole is heated throughout.

Optional: to give a lot more taste to the dish, you can add to your meat/onion mixture, also a can of your favorite pasta tomato sauce. 

Also, you can add your favorite fresh/dry herb like basil, oregano or pizza mix herbs.  

Recipe vegan macaroni casserole , more environmentally friendly and healthy:

Directions:

How to replace meat:

You can use any type of beans, Finnish peas, Finnish broad beans), Finnish mushrooms, Finnish vegetables like cauliflower, kale, broccoli.

For replacing milk, you can use any plant-based milk or oat milk.

For replacing egg, you can use plant-based cream (1 or 2 dl according to your taste) or ground flax seeds, or ground hemp seeds packed with lots of nutritions especially omega 3. For any egg, you can replace one spoon of these seeds in powder. 

For replacing cheese, you can use any type of plant-based cheese.

Finnish language

Herne-Peas

Härkäpapu-Broad Beans

Lehtikaali- Kale

Parsakaali- Broccoli

Kukkakaali- Cauliflower

Kauramaito- Oat milk

Pellavan siemen rouhe- Ground flax seeds

Hamppu siemen rouhe- Ground hemp seeds

Here are more recipes for you to try.