Create a hearty pasta timbale with a béchamel that can be tweaked to be dairy free, if needed.
By Veronica Lavenia
One of the most famous sauces in the world was created, in the seventeenth century, by the French Louis de Bechamel. François Pierre de la Varenne, a cook of King Louis XIV, quoted Louis de Bechamel’s recipe for the first time in the cookbook Le cousinier françois (“The french cook”) and it has been one of the Mother Sauces since. 
My béchamel sauce, with rice milk and flour, is a triumph of lightness and flavor. In this recipe, I used gluten-free tagliatelle (from the Italian “tagliare”, meaning “to cut”). Feel free to replace tagliatelle with spaghetti, lasagna or rigatoni.
PrintTagliatelle Timbale with Rice Béchamel
- Yield: 6 1x
Description
Create a hearty pasta timbale with a béchamel that can be tweaked to be dairy free, if needed.
Ingredients
Ingredients for the béchamel sauce
- 50 g (1¾ oz) rice flour
- 500 ml (17 fl oz/2 cups) rice milk
- salt to taste
- the tip of a teaspoon of Nutmeg
- 50 g (1¾ oz) butter
- 3 tablespoons Parmigiano cheese
For the timbale
- 500 g (1Ib/ 12 oz) Gluten-free tagliatelle
- salt to taste
- 700 g (1 Ib/9 oz) tomato sauce
- extra virgin olive oil to taste
- salt to taste
Instructions
- For the béchamel sauce: mix the rice flour with 50 ml (1½ fl oz) of rice milk cold. Combine the milk and put the rest on the stove, stirring until the cream reaches the desired consistency. Once off the heat, add nutmeg, butter and Parmigiano cheese. Putting aside the béchamel sauce and cook the pasta al dente, following the instructions of the pack.
- Meanwhile, put on fire even the tomato sauce, add salt to taste, and let cook until the sauce has thickened. Mix tomato sauce with tagliatelle and two tablespoons of béchamel.
- If you want to create portions: oil the molds and fill them with a sprinkling of Parmigiano. Add the tagliatelle, already seasoned, and cover with a sprinkling of Parmigiano.
- If you prefer to pour the mixture into a baking pan: oil a baking dish and add the Parmigiamo, spread a layer of tomato sauce. Put a first layer of tagliatelle and cover with the béchamel sauce, you set aside earlier. Do the same with the second and final layer of tagliatelle.
- Bake in a preheated oven, at 180° C (350° F / gas 4) for 20-25 minutes.
- Category: Main
- Cuisine: French
