Today, my phoodies, we travel to the Mediterranean once again for one of my favorite comfort foods. Pastitsio is like a Greek baked ziti, only with a totally different, unique, and creamy approach. Layers of tomato sauce, noodles, and Béchamel are usually hinted with the savory tastes of cinnamon, nutmeg, and/or allspice. It creates a very unique, but rich flavor that will have you taking a carb-nap minutes after eating.

For real though…you will have a serious pile of dishes after making this, but it is SO worth it (especially if you can pawn the dish-washing off on someone else).

• Prep time: 30-45 minutes
• Bake time: 30-45 minutes

Ingredients:

For the pasta:

• 2 lbs. pasta (ziti or bucatini preferred)
• Good olive oil
• 3 egg whites (save the yolks for the béchamel)
• 1 cup grated parmesan (or substitute for a nice greek cheese if you really want to invest some $ into this)

For the meat sauce:

• 2 lbs. ground beef, lamb or veal (I used half and half beef and veal for this one, but LOVE it with only lamb)
• 1 large yellow onion, finely minced
• 2 t. fresh, finely chopped rosemary
• 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1- 8oz. can diced tomatoes with liquid
• 1- 4 oz. can tomato paste
• 1/2 cup red wine (I used Dreaming Tree Cabernet, and it worked very well…go ahead and drink the rest of the bottle while you cook…you’ve earned it)
• 4-5 fresh bay leaves
• 1/2 t. nutmeg or cinnamon if using beef/veal, use allspice if using lamb
• Salt and Pepper to taste

For the béchamel:

• 4 cups whole milk (scalded)
• 1 stick (1/2 cup butter)
• 1 cup flour
• 1 t. nutmeg
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 t. nutmeg
• 1/2 t. fresh ground black pepper
• 2 cups grated parmasean cheese

Getting your Greek on:

1) Pre-heat the oven to 350°F. Start making the meat-sauce by caramelizing your onion and garlic in some olive oil over medium-high heat.

2) Once the onion is well sweated and starting to brown, add your meat, and allow it to brown.

3) Once the meat is well browed, add diced tomatoes and juice, tomato paste, wine, rosemary, nutmeg, and 1/2 cup of water to the pan. Stir and reduce heat to medium-low.

4) Add bay leaves (make sure you know exactly how many you put in so you don’t leave any behind) and place lid over pan, venting to allow steam to come off the sauce.

5) Allow sauce to simmer for approximately 30 minutes stirring intermitantly. Sauce will be done when most of the liquid is evaporated. Add salt and pepper to taste.

6) Cook pasta as you normally would, until it is approximately 75% done (it will cook more in the oven, so don’t cook it completely at this stage.

7) Strain pasta, and add a healthy amount of olive oil to the noodles and stir to evenly coat.

8) Allow pasta to cool slightly, then add egg whites, and cheese. Stir until pasta is thoroughly coated.

9) In a lasagna pan, add half of pasta an spread evenly over the bottom of the pan.

10) Remove bay leaves, and pour all of your meat sauce evenly over the bottom layer of pasta, completely covering the 1st layer.

11) Add remaining pasta in another layer over meat sauce, spreading evenly.

12) To prepare bechamel, start by heating your milk to boiling in a small sauce pan.

13) In another sauce pan, melt your stick of butter.

14) Slowly whisk the cup of flour into the butter until it forms a paste.

15) Add boiling milk to butter and flour paste, whisking very well so that no lumps remain. The mixture will start to congeal.

16) Add egg yolks, nutmeg, pepper, and parmesan cheese to the mixture, whisking very thoroughly until béchamel is a smooth, pudding-like consistency.

17) If the sauce becomes too thick (like a giant clump of thick cheese) and the butter starts to separate, slowly add some cold whole milk to the pan with your whisk or immersion blender until the sauce becomes the consistency of pudding. The first picture below shows it overly-congealed, and the second is after adding some milk.

18) Pour sauce evenly over the top of the dish and spread so you can’t see the layer of noodles below.

19) Optionally, you can cover the entire top of the dish in grated parmesan cheese before baking to give it a toasted parmesan topping.

20) Place in over for 30-45 minutes, rotating half way through for even browning. The top will be a nice golden brown when it is done.

21) Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before serving. If you cut into it too soon, it will fall apart. In fact, this is BEST when it’s made 24 hours in advance, refrigerated, and reheated the next day. In fact, this dish is AMAZING when it’s cold.

22) Serve alongside some crusty bread, and a greek salad with our greek vinaigrette dressing (check the main page for the recipe).

 Enjoy!

– The Phoody

P.S. I told you there would be mounds of dishes…