Folkfest Blog

Greek Pastitsio Recipe

Ingredients:

For The Pasta 

• 500g of Penne pas
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp salt (for the water)

For the Bechamel 

• 1 L of milk (full fat)
• 1 cup flour
• 1 egg yolk
•   ½ cup grated parmesan
• 1 stick of butter
• ½ tsp salt
•  ½ tsp pepper
• ½ paprika

For the meat 

• 1 L of milk (full fat)
• 1 cup flour
• 1 egg yolk
•  ½ cup grated parmesan
• 1 stick of butter
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• ½ paprika

Instructions:

1. To cook the pasta, boil about 10 cups of water. Add oil and salt to the water. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Pour the pasta into the water and let cook for about 10 minutes, then let stand for a minute and strain. Once strained, stir in butter.
3. Cook the meat on medium to high heat, let it brown before adding the onion and garlic. Once onion and garlic are added, lower the heat to medium and add all your spices, including grating the nutmeg and adding the cinnamon stick.
4. After spices are added, pour in the red wine, and stir. Then add in your choice of broth (In the video they use vegetable) and the tomatoes.
5. Let it simmer and stand for a minute. Then add the grated parmesan. Remove the bay leaves and cinnamon stick.
6. Pour the pasta in a pan (in the video they use a 15” by 11” pan), then pour the cup of grated parmesan cheese. Spoon the meat sauce evenly on top of the pasta.

For the Bechamel:

1. In a pot, add the milk and let warm, add the butter, and let melt. Whisk in flour and turn to low heat.
2. Once the bechamel thickens, take it off the heat and let cool for 2 minutes.
3. Add the egg yolk for color, the parmesan, the pepper, paprika, salt, nutmeg, and grate some cinnamon.
4. Pour the sauce on top of the meat. Put some butter on the top of the dish and cook.
5. Cook time may vary. For this size of dish (15” by 11”) the cook time is around 1 hour and 10 mins.

 

PREP TIME: 40 mins

COOK TIME: 1 hour 10 mins

TOTAL TIME: 1 hour 50 mins

 

View Short Edited Video Tutorial

View Unedited Video Tutorial