Traditional Finnish Pasta

Really traditional. - From 50's I think. Around the time when pasta came to Finland. If you've looked at any of my recipes, you might notice they are a bit vague. It's because I don't use a clock, nor measurement tools in kitchen. I measure with feeling, and the clock doesn't know when the food is ready. So bear with me...

Makaroonilaatikko - Macaroni-box

2 onions
3 eggs
A lot of garlic
About 0,5l of macaroni pasta (the 1/3 of a circle type tube thing)
About 0,6 - 0,7l milk
About 500g minced beef
Cheese
Paprika powder / chili powder (you decide)
White pepper

Set the oven at about 200°C. Take an oven-tray about 20cm x 30cm x 7cm in size. (This is just an estimate, I have no measurement tools, remember?) Boil the macaroni. Chop the onions. Chop the garlic. Fry the beef. Add those spices to the meat. A lot of both. Fry the onions.

Yep, separately if you bought your meat from a shop. It contains so much water you need to pour that away, so do that before adding spices. If you are lucky enough to live next to a butcher, then you can add the spices immediately and fry the onions at the same time. In this case, put the onions first to the pan and add meat on top.

Mix the meat, macaroni, onions and garlic together in the tray. I guess a tray to make meatloaf or a cake is quite ok size. Add some more white pepper and paprika powder. Mix some more.

Take about 0,6 - 0,7 litres of milk, add 3 (or 4) eggs in the mix and stir with a fork. Pour the stuff on top of the macaroni-meat-mix, so it just barely don't cover it completely. Add cheese on top.

Put in the oven for like ... the time you can listen to Notkea Rotta: Kontula - Koh Phangan All Night Long album completely. How long is that? 45 minutes? About. Well... as long as you see the milk has been sucked from the sides, if you use glass tray. (I like glass trays, you see when the food is ready.)