Instructions

• 🥣 Meat Filling: Sauté finely chopped red onion, grated carrot, and a piece of celery in olive oil. Add the minced meat and sear it thoroughly. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg, oregano, and fresh basil. Pour in the dry wine and let it evaporate. Finally, stir in the tomato paste, crushed garlic, and a handful of grated parmesan for a perfect richness of flavor.
  Let the mixture cool down and use it to fill the tubes.
• 🍅 Tomato Sauce: In a pot with oil, sauté the chopped red onion and garlic until translucent. Pour in the tomato puree and add 2 dcl of water. Season with the Italian seasoning blend, salt, black pepper, and fresh basil. Let it simmer briefly, then blend the sauce with a hand blender and strain it through a sieve until perfectly smooth. Adjust the taste with a pinch of sugar and, right at the end, stir in a piece of butter to soften.
• 🥛 Béchamel Sauce: In a smaller pot, melt the butter and add the all-purpose flour to create a light roux. Whisking continuously, gradually pour in the milk to prevent any lumps from forming. Season with salt and pepper (white pepper is preferred) and cook until thickened. Once removed from the heat, stir in a handful of grated parmesan.
• ✨ Assembly and Baking: Spread a layer of béchamel and tomato sauce onto the bottom of a baking dish, and arrange the filled tubes tightly next to each other. I used a deeper baking dish and made two layers. Generously pour the remaining béchamel and tomato sauce over the filled tubes, and top with a sprinkle of parmesan.
• 🔥 Cover the baking dish and bake in an oven preheated to 220 °C for approximately 25 minutes. Then uncover, reduce the temperature to 200 °C, and bake for an additional 15 minutes until the top turns a beautiful golden brown and the cheese is bubbling. If you don't have a covered baking dish, you can bake it on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil.