Pastitsio
Easter Recipes Veal Meat Dishes Lamb Greek
Lasagna's Greek sister is my new proposal for Easter. Why? Because it's delicious, because it can be assembled and baked ahead of time, because it's good reheated, and because it can be made with lamb too. And because it's delicious. Did I mention that already?
Ingredients
250g bucatini pasta
Meat Sauce
500g ground beef (or lamb)
1 large onion
2 bay leaves
1 can tomatoes (400g)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 allspice berry
2 pinches ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons oil
salt, black pepper
Bechamel Sauce
100g butter
2 heaping tablespoons flour
600 ml hot milk
2 eggs
200g cheese (a cheese that melts easily)
a little grated nutmeg
salt
How to prepare pastitsio
- Start by preparing the meat sauce: in hot oil, saute the finely chopped onion along with the bay leaves until softened.
- Add the ground meat and fry over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally until all the water it releases evaporates and then it starts to brown slightly (about 15 minutes).
- Add the tomatoes crushed with a fork (including their juice), the rest of the seasonings, and mix well. When the sauce starts to boil, turn the heat to medium-low, cover with a lid, and let it simmer for 45 minutes.
* when the sauce is done, if you see too much fat has accumulated on top (this depends on the meat used), you can skim it off with a spoon - 15 minutes before the sauce is ready, put a large pot of salted water on to boil. When boiling, add the pasta and cook according to package instructions (until al dente).
- While the pasta is cooking, prepare the bechamel sauce following the standard method up to step 4 (inclusive). Take the sauce off the heat and add the beaten eggs in a thin stream while stirring constantly with a whisk, so you don't make scrambled eggs. Then add the grated cheese (save 2-3 tablespoons) and stir until melted. Finally, season the sauce with salt and nutmeg to taste.
- Add 2 tablespoons of bechamel sauce to the meat sauce.
- Add 1 ladle of bechamel sauce to the cooked and drained pasta.
- In a heat-resistant baking dish (I used an oval one), spread a thin layer of bechamel to cover the bottom.
- then add half of the pasta
* if you want to be meticulous, make sure the pasta runs lengthwise in the dish, so when you cut the pastitsio at the end, you can see the holes in the bucatini
- then pour all the meat sauce over the pasta and level it
- place the rest of the pasta over the meat
* I couldn't fit all the pasta in my dish, so I only added some, leaving room for the final layer of sauce
- pour the remaining bechamel sauce over the pasta
- sprinkle the reserved cheese over the sauce - Bake at 180C (350F) for 30 minutes, until nicely browned.
- Let it cool down a bit, then it can be served. It's also good reheated.
Add tomatoes and seasonings to the meat sauce
The meat sauce is ready
The bechamel sauce
The cooked pasta
Thin layer of bechamel on the bottom of the dish
Layer of pasta
Layer of meat sauce
Second layer of pasta
Bechamel layer sprinkled with cheese
Pastitsio
Pastitsio
