Perfect Pastitsio
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Greek
Serves: Serves 4-6
Ingredients
  • Meat sauce:
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 900g ground beef, lamb or a mixture of the two
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 4 large cloves garlic, minced
  • ½ cup full-bodied red wine (optional)
  • ¼ cup tomato paste
  • 1 small can (411g/14.5oz) crushed tomatoes
  • 1½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ¾ tsp ground cloves
  • ½ tsp dried oregano
  • ½ tsp dried thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • .
  • Bechamel sauce:
  • 3 Tbsp unsalted butter
  • 3 Tbsp flour
  • 2½ cups milk, slightly warmed
  • ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
  • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • .
  • 300g (2/3lb) bucatini pasta
  • ⅓ cup feta, crumbled (optional)
Instructions
  1. Heat olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add ground beef/lamb and cook until no longer pink, breaking the meat up with a spoon as you go. Add onion and garlic and cook until softened, roughly 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  2. If you are adding red wine, add it now and cook 2-3 minutes until the alcohol has cooked off. Add tomato paste and crushed tomatoes and stir to incorporate. Add cinnamon, cloves, oregano, thyme and bay leaf and mix through. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10-15 minutes, then season with salt and pepper, to taste. (This sauce can be made a day in advance, or even frozen up to a month in advance, simply stop at this step, cool it down and pack it up)
  3. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  4. Cook pasta noodles until *almost* al dente. Remember, we're baking the pasta as well, so we want to stop it cooking early so we don't end up with mushy noodles. Drain, toss with a small glug of olive oil and set aside.
  5. Now to start the bechamel. Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Add flour and cook over medium heat to create a roux, whisking constantly for 2 minutes. Slowly pour the milk into the roux, whisking constantly. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes, until smooth and thick. Add nutmeg, ~1/2 teaspoon salt and ~1/2 teaspoon of pepper (or to your tastes). Stir in Parmesan cheese and the eggs until well combined.
  6. Take a large ladle and scoop two ladlefuls of bechamel into your meat sauce, stirring to incorporate. Pour your noodles into the meat sauce and mix well.
  7. Pour the sauced noodles into a large baking dish, patting them down gently so that there are no big air pockets in the mixture and surface is somewhat flattened. Pour the remaining bechamel sauce over the pasta in the baking dish and, using a spatula or the back of a spoon, spread it so that it covers the surface of the noodles more or less evenly. Top with a light sprinkling of feta, if desired.
  8. At this point, I like to put the loaded baking dish on to a large baking tray, because we've got a very heavy, very full casserole on our hands- this is a precaution I haven't always needed, but if your tray looks pretty full, and there is any chance of the odd bubble-over, it's a good thing to do. Bake for 45 minutes, until the dish is golden and bubbly.
  9. Now, this is the HARDEST STEP in the entire recipe: Take it out of the oven and let it sit, undisturbed, for at least 10 minutes. You're going to want to dive into it right away, I know. It's gonna be tough. Try and resist. The longer you let it sit, the better your servings will hold their shape (I have been known to make a pastitsio after lunch and warm it through slightly for dinner, since I already have a full belly when it comes out of the oven and the temptation isn't quite as great.)
Recipe by Port and Fin at https://portandfin.com/perfect-pastitsio/