This Pastitsio is a flavoursome Greek classic. Often called Greek Lasagna, a few simple steps and these layers of pasta, rich meat sauce and creamy bechamel sauce will keep the family coming back for more.
Ingredients
- 250 g pastitsio noodles (or use dried penne pasta) (~9oz) (notes 2)
FOR THE MEAT SAUCE
- 1 ½ cups sliced mushrooms
- ½ small onion finely diced
- 2 large cloves garlic minced
- ½ large red capsicum finely diced
- 500 g beef mince (~1lb)
- 1 ⅓ cups tomato passata (puree) (400ml)
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste (notes 1)
- ½ cup fresh parsley, lightly packed, roughly chopped
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup water (60ml)
FOR THE BECHAMEL
- 170 g butter (6oz / 1½ sticks)
- ¾ cup plain flour (all purpose flour) (95g/~3oz)
- 4 cups whole milk
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 ½ cups finely grated kefalotyri cheese (or parmesan cheese) not packed (notes 3)
- 2 large eggs
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan forced) / 395F.
- Boil 6 cups of water with a tablespoon of salt. Once boiling add your pasta and let it boil away until just cooked (notes 3). Drain and tip into a roughly 9x12 inch baking dish.
- FOR THE MEAT SAUCE:In a large skillet / frying pan, cook the mushrooms in ½ tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat until they start to colour. Add the onion, garlic and capsicum and cook for a further 3-4 minutes until starting to soften.
- Add the mince and cooking, turning regularly, until browned all over.
- Add the remaining meat sauce ingredients tomato passata (puree), tomato paste, parsley, cinnamon, salt, oregano and pepper. Then rinse the passata bottle with the water and add that too.
- Mix well, then turn right down to very low and simmer, stirring every so often, for around 10-15 minutes until the sauce has thickened and is no longer pooling.
- FOR THE BECHAMEL: Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat (you can use the pasta pan after the pasta has been cooked and drained).
- Add the flour and whisk well. Cook for a minute or so whisking to keep it smooth.
- Gradually add in the milk while continuing to whisk until it is all added and you have a smooth white sauce. Let this cook on low for around 3-5 minutes until thickened and it coats the back of a spoon.
- Take it off the heat. Set aside ⅓ cup of the parmesan and add the rest to the bechamel. Add the salt and pepper. Whisk until smooth.
- Separate the eggs into 2 small bowls. Add a couple of spoonfuls of the hot bechamel to the yolks and quickly whisk together. Add the yolk mixture back to the bechamel in the saucepan and mix well to combine.
- TO ASSEMBLE:Let everything cool for 10 minutes before assembling.
- Tip the pasta into your casserole dish. Add one egg white, ¼ cup of the bechamel sauce and the reserved ⅓ cup of parmesan. Mix it well to combine, then level the pasta out and press down to flatten it a little.
- Pour all the meat sauce over the pasta and level out.
- Pour the bechamel sauce over the top of the meat and level out.
- Bake for around 40 minutes until golden on top.
- Let the pastitsio cool for 15 minutes before serving to get nice square serves.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- Tablespoons: I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (equal to 4 teaspoons). Check yours before measuring.
- Pastitisio noodles are also called Bucatini pasta No2. They're generally a long pasta which is hollow through the centre. Penne pasta, ziti pasta or a thin style rigatoni will work well in it's place. I most often use penne since it's so readily available.
- Kefalotyri cheese is a Greek cheese and the traditional cheese used in pastitsio, however parmesan cheese or even pecorino romano cheese will work well in it's place.
- The pasta should be cooked through but only just. It will soften slightly more in the oven but if you cook it too soft in the water, it will then collapse in the pastitsio.
- For the bechamel, you can use whole milk or light (2%) milk. Both will work fine.
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Nutrition information is approximate only and derived from an online calculator. The brands you use and any changes you make may cause variations.
