Pastitsio aka Greek Lasagna
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 60 minutes
Cooking time: 60 minutes plus resting time
Serves: 8
For Mince layer
- Oil for frying
- 2 onions, peeled and diced
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and diced
- 1kg/2.2lbs beef mince
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 400g/14oz tin diced tomatoes
- 1/2 cup/80g/3ozs. pitted kalamata olives
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 beef stock cubes
- 3 teaspoons chilli flakes
- 3 teaspoons fennel seeds
- 3 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Pinch of ground cloves
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley
For Bechamel layer
- 100g/3.5ozs. butter
- 100g/3.5ozs. flour
- 1 litre/1 quart milk (hot)
- 1 cup/125g grated parmesan cheese
- 1.5 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
For Pasta layer
- 500g/1.1lbs rigatoni
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 250g/8.8ozs. kefalotyri, grated
- 250g/8.8ozs. mozzarella, grated
Step 1 - First make the mince. Heat oil in a large pot and add the onions and garlic and saute on medium heat until softened. Add the beef mince making sure to break it up with a spatula (I sometimes use a potato masher too). Then add the tomato paste, tinned tomatoes, olives, bay leaves, stock cubes, chilli flakes, fennel seeds, smoked paprika, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. Simmer until the beef is cooked through and the sauce has thickened and become darker red in colour, around 15-20 minutes or so. Add parsley and stir through. At this stage you can cool it completely or use it.
Step 2 - Make the bechamel sauce. I love doing this in my Thermomix but you can also do it on the stovetop. In a large saucepan add the butter and melt. Add in the flour and stir together to form a paste and cook on medium heat for 30 seconds or so. Then gradually add the milk in 6 or so lots whisking it in. Switch to a spatula to thicken it and to make sure that it doesn't catch on the base of the pot. Add the cheese, salt and nutmeg and allow to cool-it will thicken further upon cooling.
Thermomix directions: add the butter, flour, milk, parmesan, salt and nutmeg in the bowl and set to 10 minutes, 90C speed #4.
Step 3 - To make the pasta layer, boil pasta in a big pot of boiling water for 5 minutes so that it is al dente (it will also cook in the oven). Then drain under cold water well. Then whisk the eggs and gently toss the pasta in the beaten egg.
Step 4 - Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Spray a 22x33x10cms or 9x13x4 inch baking dish well with oil spray. Place the pasta and egg layer on the base. I lined them up which actually isn't that annoyingly painful. I made two layers of rigatoni tubes.
Step 5 - Top half of the kefalotyri and mozzarella and then add the mince layer. Then add the bechamel and then the remaining half of kefalotyri and mozzarella. Bake for 45 minutes or until the cheese on top is blistered. Rest this for at least 1 hour to get a clean cut (I rest it overnight which allows for a very clean cut). But then again you read what happened the first time I made this and left this to cool...