Pastitsio
Pastitsio is a Greek baked pasta dish including ground beef and Béchamel sauce - an excellent winter comfort meal. Served with a mixed green salad dressed with wine vinegar and Greek extra virgin olive oil, this will definitely please your guests and family.
Ingredients
Main Ingredients
- 500g grated parmesan cheese or a cheese of your choice
- 1 ½ pkts macaroni No3
- Butter
For the Mince Layer
- 750g mince
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 2 fresh ripe tomatoes, chopped
- 500ml Passata
- Salt, pepper, ground nutmeg
- 500ml water
- 200ml red wine
For the Béchamel Sauce
- 7-8 tbsp flour
- 250g butter or margarine
- 4 eggs
- 1 can evaporated milk
- 1 can of water
- 300g grated cheese
- Salt, pepper
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
Method
- Boil the pasta in salted water.
- Drain and rinse with cold water.
- Melt butter in the pot, return pasta, and toss to coat.
- Sauté onion and mince in heated olive oil until browned.
- Add tomatoes, passata, seasoning, water, and simmer for 40 minutes.
- Add wine and allow mixture to cool.
- Prepare béchamel: melt margarine, whisk in flour, add milk, water, eggs, seasoning, and cheese until thickened.
- Preheat oven to 180°C.
- Layer 2/3 pasta in a greased dish and sprinkle cheese.
- Spread mince over pasta.
- Add remaining pasta and cheese.
- Cover with béchamel and remaining cheese.
- Bake for 1 hour until golden.
Additional Tips
The ovenproof dish used is 33 × 38cm, which fits most ovens. It can take up to 1kg of mince if desired. Allow the pastitsio to cool before cutting for best results.
