Rich pastitsio. An authentic Greek Lasagna recipe to recreate this traditional delight just like my grandma used to make it. It's a Greek version of lasagna- characterized by a white and creamy bechamel sauce used in place of marinara and a hint of cinnamon. A delicious Greek recipe made with ziti pasta, ground meat, béchamel sauce cheeses and herbs!
You start with a rich lamb ragu simmered in red wine and spiked with cinnamon.
The creamy white sauce is delicious. —Amanda Briggs, Greenfield, Wisconsin.
As a general rule, pair the heartier sauces with the wider noodles: Wide ribbons like pappardelle pair well with rich, meaty sauces while the thinner flat noodles.
You can cook Rich pastitsio using 27 ingredients and 13 steps. Here is how you achieve that.
Ingredients of Rich pastitsio
- It's of Mince.
- It's 700 g of beef mince.
- Prepare 1 of large dry onion.
- It's 2 of large peeled tomatoes.
- Prepare 1 of medium green pepper.
- Prepare 1 cup of oil (approximately).
- It's 3/4 cups of white wine.
- You need 3/4 cups of tomato Passata (approximately).
- You need of salt.
- Prepare of cinnamon (powder).
- Prepare clove of (powder).
- You need of nutmeg (powder).
- You need of water.
- Prepare of Pasta.
- It's of macaroni No3 (usually long, thick, hollow pasta).
- You need of butter.
- It's of Bechamel sauce.
- It's of Bechamel sauce.
- You need 130-150 g of corn flour.
- Prepare 1 1/2 l of fresh milk (approximately).
- Prepare 2 of eggs.
- Prepare 2 of full tbsp butter.
- Prepare of salt.
- It's of cinnamon (powder).
- You need of nutmeg (powder).
- You need of Cheeses.
- You need 1 kg of grated cheeses (regato, graviera, kasseri) (approximately).
SEE ALSO Red mullets in red sauce with pasta. A very rich recipe; you can safely reduce the meat sauce and Saltsa Aspri by one. I've still never had a better one.
Rich pastitsio instructions
- 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!.