Pastitsio
Or Greek pasta bake if you like. Similar to a moussaka but made with layers of pasta, meaty rich sauce and béchamel. Tradition calls for a special kind of Greek tubular pastitsio pasta but here I have used bucatini as it’s more readily available. If you can find kefalotyre cheese use that but if not, never fear it’s similar to Parmesan so use that in its place. This is the ultimate in comfort food and I have to admit I almost liked it better than Lasagne…..almost. The meat sauce and béchamel should be very thick so you get those amazing layers. If they are not thick they will all kind of merge together.
Ingredients
(This guy makes enough for 4-6)
Rich Saucy Beef Layer
1 brown onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ tsp dried oregano
1 cinnamon quill
2 Tbsp tomato paste
800g beef mince
½ cup red wine
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock
Pasta Layer
400g pastitsio pasta or bucatini
2 egg whites
Creamy Béchamel Layer
50g butter
½ cup flour
2 ½ cups milk
1/8 tsp nutmeg
100g kefalotyre or Parmesan cheese, finely grated
2 egg yolks
100g grated mozzarella - not traditional but fuck it, it’s yum!
Prep It
Preheat oven to 180°c.
Bring a medium pot 3/4 full of heavily salted water to the boil. It should taste almost like the ocean.
Dice onion and mince garlic. Grab a large baking dish and grease with olive oil. Set aside for later.
Cook It
Heat lots of olive oil - about a ¼ cup in a large fry-pan on medium-high heat. Cook onion, garlic, oregano and cinnamon quill with a pinch of salt for about 5 minutes, until soft and golden.
Add tomato paste and cook for about 1 minute. Add beef mince and another good pinch of salt and cook for 5 minutes, until browned.
Add wine and cook for about 1 minute, until absorbed into the mince. Once absorbed add chicken stock and chopped tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 30 minutes stirring occasionally, until very thick. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
While sauce cooks, cook pasta in the boiling water for about 1 minute less that the pack instructions say. Drain and transfer pasta to prepared baking dish. Set aside to cool.
Return pasta pot to medium heat. We are going to re use this for the béchamel because you know less dishes and all to wash! Place butter in pot, melt and add flour. Mix well and cook for about 1 minute, until it kind of foams. This cooks out the flour. Add milk and nutmeg and whisk as it comes to the boil. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly until very thick. Remove from heat and stir in cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Separate the eggs and add the whites to the baking dish with pasta and whisk the yolks into the béchamel.
Layer It
Mix the egg whites well through the pasta and arrange the pasta so it’s all kind of in a straight line in the dish longways. Easier said than done I KNOW! just do it as best you can making sure its all nice and even and flatish.
Spread the meat sauce evenly over top of the pasta being careful not to push it down into the pasta.
Next pour the béchamel over top of the meat and spread it out evenly and carefully. Haha “we get it Amber…carefully” Sprinkle over the mozzarella and he’s good to bake!
Bake It
Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, until golden. Honestly when this thing comes out its going to blow your mind! It’s so golden, puffy and beautiful.
Eat It
Now the tough part. This guy needs to sit for about 15 minutes to let everything settle.
Hard I know!