In December the weather got cold for a bit and I decided to make some baked dishes that are good as a winter warm up. One of these was Pastitio. Pastitio is a Greek dish of layered with macaroni in a bechamel sauce and sautéed ground meat, onions and tomatoes sauce. It is a favorite of my spouse and my toddler will also eat the pasta layers. I like to use ground lamb but my spouse prefers ground beef. We argue about this point every single time I make it so I try to alternate or use a mix of both to hide the “lamb taste”. I’ve posted before about making Greek dishes that use a bechamel sauce. Read that post and the tips on how to not curdle your eggs. Otherwise good luck to you getting the sauce right. Also letting it cool at the end is super important. It won’t set otherwise and the squares with fall apart when you try to get them out of the pan.
Recipe
- 1 pound ground lamb or lean ground beef
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- 8 ounces tomato sauce
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 4 large eggs beaten
- 3 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp flour
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 3/4 cup milk
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1 cup elbow macaroni cooked
- In large skillet, cook meat onion and garlic until meat browns and garlic is tender
- Add tomato sauce, oregano, and salt
- Simmer 10 minutes
- Add one egg, combine and set aside
- In medium saucepan melt butter. Stir in flour and pepper until you have a roux
- Add 1 1/2 cups milk. Stir and cook until thickened
- Add two beaten eggs and half the parmesan cheese. Combine well
- Add remaining milk, egg, parmesan cheese and macaroni noodles
- Grease 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 baking pan
- Layer half macaroni mixture, meat mixture, and remaining macaroni mixture
- Bake at 350 for 30 to 40 minutes
- Let stand 5 to 10 minutes before cutting