Pasta Bake with Béchamel

Few dishes symbolize comfort food and the European influence on Egyptian cuisine as audaciously as macarona béchamel. Believed to have made its way into the nation’s culinary canon in the middle of the 20th century via French chefs who cooked for state banquets and glitzy hotels, macarona béchamel rose to prominence in the upscale homes of cosmopolitan Alexandria. Food writer Anny Gaul explains that macarona béchamel, despite its Franco-Italian moniker, first appears in