Greek Style Lasagna (Pastitsio)

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Pastitsio (Greek Style Lasagna)

Bake: 1 hour

Prep: 30 – 45 min

Makes: 12-15 pieces

 

Pastitsio, a traditional Greek style lasagna, is often made with Misko #2 macaroni noodles or bucatini or even ziti. Pastitsio dates back to ancient times evolving over the years undergoing a major uplift in the 20^th century when European trained Greek chef, Nikolaos Tselementes, spread béchamel sauce on top creating today’s wonderful version.

 

Meat Sauce

1 large white onion, chopped	1 teaspoon sugar
4 garlic cloves, chopped	1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 – 2 tablespoons olive oil	1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3 pounds ground beef	1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 14.5 ounce can-diced tomatoes	1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons tomato paste	1 teaspoon pepper
5 ounces red wine	1/8 cup grated hard cheese*

 

*May use any hard cheese such as Parmesan, mizithra or kefalograviera to sprinkle on top during final steps before baking the pastitsio.

Meat Sauce

 

Sauté onions in olive oil in a large sauce pan for several minutes and then add garlic and sauté another minute. Add ground beef and cook over medium heat until browned. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, red wine, sugar, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and pepper to meat; mix and bring to a boil with lid off of sauce pan. Once boiling, lower temperature and allow meat mixture to simmer for about 30 minutes until liquid boils off. Set aside off heat.

 

Macaroni

 

1-pound Misko#2 macaroni noodles	1 cup grated hard cheese*
1 teaspoon salt	3 eggs room temperature
1/2 cup salted butter, melted

 

Spray a 13 by 16 by 3 inches lasagna pan with cooking spray. Cook macaroni in salted water for several minutes less than given on the package direction since the macaroni will cook more when baking in the oven. Rinse and drain macaroni, place in pan. Add ½ cup melted butter with macaroni followed by ¾ cup hard cheese and 3 beaten eggs; continue to mix well; reserving ¼ cup cheese to sprinkle on top of the bechamel before baking. Place cooked macaroni mixture in the pan, spreading evenly, and then place meat mixture on top of the macaroni mixture spreading evenly. Pour béchamel sauce evenly on top of the meat sauce. *May use any hard cheese such as Parmesan or mizithra.

 

Béchamel sauce*

 

1 cup salted butter	1 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour 1 teaspoon nutmeg	4 cups whole milk 2 eggs

 

Over low heat, melt butter and add flour, salt and nutmeg; whisk until completely smooth for about 2 minutes. On low heat, add 2 cups of the milk to the butter/flour mixture, continuously whisking. Raise the heat slightly to medium and continue whisking util completely smooth and thick. Follow by adding 1 cup milk at a time, adding each cup once the previous mixture has thickened. Whisk until all milk has been added and the béchamel is smooth and thick. Take mixture off the heat and slowly add eggs while whisking vigorously. Pour mixture over the pasta and meat. Sprinkle with olive oil and 1/8 cup grated hard cheese. Bake at 350⁰F for 1 hour until golden brown. Once out of the oven, allow pastitsio to rest for about an hour before cutting and serving. 

 

*Consider having help since consistent whisking is the key.

Noodles

 (Picture of Meat Sauce - pending)

Noodles with Meat Sauce

Bechamel Sauce

Bechamel Sauce Spread on Top of Noodles/Meat Sauce. Olive Oil drizzled with 1/8 cup  Hard Cheese Sprinkled on Top

 

Cooked Pastitsio

A few suggestions and what I learned about making a perfect bechamel sauce for pastitsio

1. Make sure the butter and flour are completely mixed. The flour must be completely covered by the butter. As Chef Teri says from The Chef Tech cooking school - "All the butter must be coated with butter. No dry flour can remain!!! per Chef Teri.

2. A special shout out and huge thank you to Rea Bacol, our local Greek Festival pastitsio expert along with Eleni Karapoulios,  for their insights in helping to make the perfect bechamel sauce. In Rea's words "do not stop whisking even when pouring the milk in". At this step, you might need someone to help to pour the milk in because you CAN NOT stop whisking".

 

A few more suggestions:

1. I would suggest cutting up the butter into small chunky pieces to melt when making the roux since this recipe calls for a cup of butter. This will allow the butter to melt faster before adding the flour.

2. I grew up eating Pastitsio with Misko noodles and recently found that bucantini an excellent alternative. 

3. Misko #2 is 5 mm (0.19685 inches) and found when using a smaller tube sized bucatini such as bucatini #15 is 3 mm in diameter (0.118 inches), using less ground beef is better (2 or 2.5 pounds instead of the 3 pound). 

• When co-recipe tester, Bonnie P. used Misko#2, she found using 3 pounds ground beef a better choice. 
• Bucatini #15 is excellent with 2 pounds ground beef. 

     P.S. Misko #2 can be found on Amazon or possibly your local Greek/Mediterranean store.

3.  Penne pasta or ziti may be used in place of Misko or bucatini noodle. 

3. May use grated mizithra or kefalotyri in place of grated Parmesan. Or consider the Spaghetti Factory brand grated Mizithra blended with 25% Romano cheese.

4. Some prefer to cover pastitsio in foil while baking and uncover towards the end of the hour to brown it.

5. I use ground beef 73 lean/27% fat. More fat enhances the flavor and it has become a special occasion dish for us. Make sure to skim off any liquids after cooking.

4. Watched a video from American Test Kitchen and they placed a pan of pastitsio on a baking sheet before putting in the oven to bake. It makes sense, to catch any bubbly overflow to pre-empt a mess stove clean-up and to provide astable, even base to make gorgeous golden-brown crust. 

5. This would be considered a traditional recipe with cinnamon. After looking at many on-line pastitsio recipes, others include herbs such as oregano or basil in the meat sauce. 

May make in Advance

1.  I typically make the noodles and meat sauce the day before and assemble it. I make the bechamel sauce the next day for the dinner party, spread it on top of the noodles/meat then bake. 

2. Also, may freeze any extra bechamel sauce once cooked. 

Can You Make in Advance and Freeze It?

1. May freeze an entire unbaked pan of pastitsio with the bechamel sauce. Cover it with saran wrap and foil (to prevent freezer burn) and then freeze it. Like a frozen lasagna, I take the pastistio from the freezer to the oven and bake for an hour until golden brown. Some prefer to cover in foil and uncover towards the end of the hour to brown the pastitsio.

2. May defrost in the refrigerator overnight and then bake as usual.

2. Let it rest for 60 minutes before eating.