Pastitso (Macaroni and Meat)

Submitted by LifeIsGood

"A Greek delight. I love pastitso. It's kind of like a Greek lasagne. This recipe takes some time, but it is well worth it! Enjoy. :)"

 

• Ready In: 1hr 30mins
• Ingredients: 17
• Serves: 8

ingredients

• 1 large onion, grated
• 1⁄4 lb butter
• 2 lbs ground round
• 1 tablespoon salt (I use Kosher)
• 1⁄4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 4 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1⁄2 cup water
• 1 egg

• Macaroni

• 1 lb elbow macaroni
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 3⁄4 cups romano cheese, grated

• White Sauce

• 1⁄4 lb butter
• 1⁄2 cup flour
• 3 cups milk
• 5 egg yolks
• 1⁄4 cup romano cheese, grated

directions

1. Brown onion in the butter then add the meat. Keep stirring until the meat is browned.
2. Add salt, pepper, cinnamon, tomato paste and water. Cook, uncovered, over medium heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until the water is absorbed.
3. Remove from the heat and allow this to cool.
4. Beat 1 egg very well and add it to the meat mixture.
5. Macaroni:.
6. Cook the macaroni as per the package directions. Then rinse under hot water, drain and put into a large bowl.
7. Toss the macaroni with the 3 beaten eggs and the 1 3/4°C grated Romano cheese.
8. White Sauce:.
9. Melt the butter and add the flour, mix well. This should be done on med-low heat, so you don't burn the butter.
10. Gradually add the cold milk, stirring well. Cook this until it's thick, stirring often. Be patient, it needs to thicken up! Remove from heat.
11. After about 5 minutes, while sauce is cooling, beat the 5 egg yolks very well and blend into the sauce. Add the cheese and mix.
12. Butter a 10" x 14" pan. Put 1/2 of macaroni mix in pan. put meat mixture over the macaroni, spreading evenly. Put the rest of the macaroni mixture on top, also spreading evenly.
13. Put white sauce all over the top.
14. Bake at 375 degrees F. for about 45 minutes or until golden brown (you might need to tent it with alum. foil towards the end of cooking).

Reviews

[breezermom]

I love Pastitsio, and this version did not disappoint. We missed our Greek festival this year, so this was a welcome addition to our menu. The cinnamon amount was perfect. (We halved the recipe). Thanks for sharing!!

 

[DailyInspiration]

Delicious! I did not cook everything at once as others did and I think that made this recipe much easier to pull together. I made the meat sauce and when done, I cooked the pasta. After assembling the recipe layering, the bechamel sauce was ready to add and everything went directly into the oven. I used my convection toaster oven and this dish turned out perfectly. All it needed was a salad and we had a perfect meal. : )

 

[Miss Fannie]

I served this at a dinner party; it was impressive! The white sauce was so pretty. Mu DM and DIL were watching me whisk it on the stove and loved watching it come together. DIL washed all the pots, so I could really relax and enjoy this delicious meal.

 

[Darkhunter]

Well, LIG, after I dirtied every pot and pan in my kitchen, I put this together, and I've gotta say, it was worth all the clean-up. Very, very tasty! Thnx for posting!

 

[strawberrybird]

Yum. It's not so hard to put together, you just have to willing to have a few pots on the stove at the same time. I served this at a luncheon and everyone enjoyed it. Thanks for the recipe.