This recipe is a little tricky, but considering it comes STRAIGHT from the yiayia archives, you should know it's gonna be so bloody worth it when it all comes together!
Yiayia's Pastitsio
Serves: 6
Ingredients:
500g lean beef mince
250g penne pasta
400g can of chopped/crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup of red wine
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp rosemary, finely chopped
2 whole cloves
1 tsp all spice
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
2 tbsp olive oil
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
Béchamel Sauce:
3/4 cup of plain flour
3/4 cup of butter
750mL of warm milk
1 & 1/2 cups of Keflagraviera cheese or parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs
Directions:
- Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Pasta:
- Boil pasta in a pot of salted, boiling water and cook until al dente.
- After straining the pasta, add the pasta to a separate bowl with the olive oil and leave to cool.
Meat Sauce:
- Add mince to a hot non-stick pan and sauté until excess water evaporates and mince is browned. Add onion, red wine, garlic, oregano, rosemary, cloves, all spice and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add tomato paste, bay leaf, cinnamon stick and chopped tomatoes.
- Reduce heat to low and let the meat simmer for 1 hour.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
Béchamel Sauce:
- Melt butter in a separate sauce pan and add flour and stir for roughly 2 minutes then remove the pan from the heat.
- Now slowly add milk to the mixture and continue to stir until mixture is smooth and thick. Top with a lid and let the sauce cool for 10 minutes.
- Add beaten eggs and half of the cheese to the mixture.
Assemble:
- Oil your casserole dish, layer the bottom of your dish with pasta and cheese.
- Cover with meat sauce and then add the béchamel sauce to top.
- Bake in an oven for 45 minutes, uncovered until golden brown.
