Rich pastitsio. Pastitsio is an authentic Greek baked pasta dish with ground meat and béchamel sauce. It's like a Greek lasagna but with béchamel sauce and thick spaghetti. Pastitsio has layers of pasta, minced beef, and a creamy béchamel sauce which are baked together to create a rich, velvety dish.
Traditionally a hollow "fat" pasta noodle is used that is a perfect vehicle for sauces and serves as a great base for baked casseroles like macaroni and cheese. Greek pastitsio (pastichio/pasticcio/Pastizio) owes its distinctive and rich flavour to the two aromatic spices used in the meat sauce of the traditional pastitsio recipe, which are cinnamon and clove. Once put in the oven, the intense aromas of those spices bring back childhood memories.
Hey everyone, it is me, Dave, welcome to my recipe page. Today, I’m gonna show you how to prepare a special dish, rich pastitsio. It is one of my favorites. For mine, I’m gonna make it a bit tasty. This is gonna smell and look delicious.
Pastitsio is an authentic Greek baked pasta dish with ground meat and béchamel sauce. It's like a Greek lasagna but with béchamel sauce and thick spaghetti. Pastitsio has layers of pasta, minced beef, and a creamy béchamel sauce which are baked together to create a rich, velvety dish.
Rich pastitsio is one of the most popular of recent trending foods on earth. It is appreciated by millions daily. It is simple, it is quick, it tastes yummy. They are fine and they look fantastic. Rich pastitsio is something that I have loved my whole life.
To begin with this particular recipe, we must prepare a few components. You can have rich pastitsio using 27 ingredients and 13 steps. Here is how you can achieve it.
The ingredients needed to make Rich pastitsio:
- {Prepare of Mince.
- {Take 700 g of beef mince.
- {Take 1 of large dry onion.
- {Take 2 of large peeled tomatoes.
- {Make ready 1 of medium green pepper.
- {Get 1 cup of oil (approximately).
- {Make ready 3/4 cups of white wine.
- {Prepare 3/4 cups of tomato Passata (approximately).
- {Prepare of salt.
- {Get of cinnamon (powder).
- {Take clove of (powder).
- {Prepare of nutmeg (powder).
- {Get of water.
- {Take of Pasta.
- {Get of macaroni No3 (usually long, thick, hollow pasta).
- {Get of butter.
- {Prepare of Bechamel sauce.
- {Take of Bechamel sauce.
- {Make ready 130-150 g of corn flour.
- {Get 1 1/2 l of fresh milk (approximately).
- {Make ready 2 of eggs.
- {Take 2 of full tbsp butter.
- {Make ready of salt.
- {Prepare of cinnamon (powder).
- {Make ready of nutmeg (powder).
- {Get of Cheeses.
- {Take 1 kg of grated cheeses (regato, graviera, kasseri) (approximately).
Personally we prefer it of course and find it a little less rich and a little more moorish. The pasta that is usually used in Greece is a long thin macaroni called Perciatelli. If you can't get this then Penne is a good substitute but it is important to use a pasta that has a hole through it as the sauce seeps in and makes it extra delicious. Pastitsio, or pastichio is almost as popular as the famous moussaka of Greece.
Steps to make Rich pastitsio:
- Using a pot, lightly sauté the grated onion and the mince at medium temperature..
- When these are ready, add the tomato (grated), the pepper, finely chopped, quite a bit of cinammon and clove and a little bit of nutmeg, stir well to combine the flavors and cook for about 5 minutes with the lid on so that the liquids are absorbed..
- Then deglaze with the wine, put the lid back on and let the mince cook for five more minutes..
- Add about 1,5 to 2 glasses of water and let the food cook for about half an hour..
- After half an hour of cooking add the Passata, stir well and add water (about 1 cup), add salt, stir again and let the mince cook for another half hour till all the juices are absorbed..
- Take the pot off the heat and let the mince cool for a while..
- Prepare the pasta. Boil it in salty water and drain to get rid of the excess water. Then, put it in a baking tray, spread it and let it cool..
- Place the milk and corn flour in a pot stirring constantly with a whisk over medium heat. After a while, as the milk starts to boil, the mixture will start to thicken. Withdraw from the fire and keep on whisking. It might be necessary, according to how thick the bechamel is, to add a bit of milk or corn flour accordingly (just remember to whisk vigorously so that the bechamel doesn't get lumpy). Add two full tbsp of butter and let it cool for a while..
- Take small pieces of butter with your hands and butter the pasta well. Add half of the cheeses and mix all the ingredients together. Using your hands spread the pasta in the tray..
- Pour the mince over the pasta so that it goes everywhere and add half of the remaining cheeses spreading the mix with a spoon so that it is even..
- Back to the bechamel now. Add the eggs and stir very well. Add a bit of salt, quite a bit of cinnamon, a bit of nutmeg and stir again. Then add the rest of the cheeses to the bechamel and stir them with a fork or a whisk so that they combine well..
- Finally, pour the bechamel on the tray and shake it so that it goes everywhere and there are no uncovered places..
- Bake in medium temperature (we have already preheated the oven) for about 1 hour till it goldens to the nice colour that we all know!.
It is a rich mixture of aromatic minced beef with luxuriously creamy bechamel sauce and of course pasta. Pastitsio, Greek macaroni and meat pie, fabulous! This is old fashioned comfort food and holds so many memories for me. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Greek Pastitsio Bake with penne pasta, seasoned ground beef and a rich béchamel sauce baked in the oven until crispy.
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