Make the comfort food Pastitsio for National Macaroni Day
Mary Bilyeu, Contributor
We have yet another food holiday to celebrate today! And this one — National Macaroni Day — is an easy one to join in on.
There's macaroni and cheese, pasta salad... lots of family favorites.
But ever since having a fabulous dinner at Pegasus in Greektown recently, I'd been craving more pastitsio — an amazing dish of pasta layered with a rich meat sauce and topped with a cheesy custard... sigh.
Pastitsio has no redeeming nutritional value whatsoever, unless you delude yourself that the fat content is neutralized by the prostate-friendly tomato sauce or that using skim milk in the topping will make it all okay!
But sometimes you just need comfort food; and this particular comfort food also makes a great party dish for graduations, showers or other events at which you'll be feeding a crowd.
It may look as though this requires a lot of work, but it really doesn't; each of the layers is very easy to make. And there aren't too many dirty dishes, either — I don't have a dishwasher, and I still wasn't overwhelmed by the washing afterwards (a saucepan for the custard, a skillet for the meat sauce, a stockpot for the pasta, accoutrements for chopping and stirring).
So please don't feel intimidated when you look over the length of the recipe. As always, just trust me... this pastitsio is so worth making! It's rich, luscious, substantial, and a universal favorite.
Pastitsio
Pasta Layer:
8 ounces macaroni
Meat Sauce:
1 pound ground beef
1/2 pound ground lamb
1 small onion, chopped
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup red wine
Cream Sauce:
1/3 cup butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 eggs
1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare macaroni according to package directions.
Cook the beef and lamb over medium-high heat in a large skillet until only slightly pink; add the onion and cook until meat is browned, then drain. Stir in tomato sauce, tomato paste, salt, pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg; cook for 1 minute. Add wine, and cook for 5 minutes until sauce is thickened.
Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Spread just over one-half of the macaroni over the bottom of the dish.
Top with the meat sauce, spreading it carefully.
Spread the remaining macaroni over the meat sauce.
Set aside while making the cream sauce.
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Slowly pour in the milk, incorporating each addition before adding the next. Add the salt and nutmeg; cook for 5 minutes, until thickened.
Place the eggs into a small bowl, and add 1/2 cup of the cream sauce to them; whisk until blended, then stir the eggs into the saucepan with the rest of the sauce. Stir in the grated parmesan.
Pour the sauce over the pasta, spreading to make sure everything is covered. Sprinkle the shredded parmesan over the top.
Bake for 45-50 minutes until the top of the pastitsio is golden brown.
Let the pastitsio rest for 5 minutes before cutting into squares. Start with smaller portions, as it's very rich; you can always come back for seconds... and I can promise that you will!
Mary Bilyeu has won or placed in more than 60 cooking contests and writes about her adventures in the kitchen. She was thrilled to have her post about Scottish Oatmeal Shortbread named as one of the daily "Best of the Blogs" by the prestigious Food News Journal.
Go visit Mary's blog — Food Floozie — on which she enthuses and effuses over all things food-related. Her newest feature is Frugal Floozie Friday, seeking fun and food for $5 or less ... really! Feel free to email her with questions or comments or suggestions: yentamary@gmail.com.
The phrase "You Should Only Be Happy" (written in Hebrew on the stone pictured in this post) comes from Deuteronomy 16:15 and is a wish for all her readers as they cook along with her ... may you always be happy here.
Comments
Thor143
Sat, Jul 9, 2011 : 12:23 a.m.
Mary, This is uncanny but just last week I made moussaka, a similar recipe, with eggplant, without pasta. I used half ground beef and half ground venison, with allspice and ground clove. I got the recipe from the Food Network. I use a double amount of the bechamel sauce. I was planning pastitsio as my next project! Is this kismet? Dave
Mary Bilyeu
Sat, Jul 9, 2011 : 3:29 a.m.
Serendipity, Kismet ... it was meant to be! The Hebrew word is "bashert" [bah-SHAYRT] = destiny. I'll bet that moussaka was amazing!!! Would you use venison in the pastitsio, too ...?
Ann English
Sat, Jul 9, 2011 : 12:10 a.m.
Does the kind of flour matter? Where did you get ground lamb? The step-by-step photos you put in look like pictures and text I thought I would only find by using a search engine to find how to poach eggs, or how to do other cooking. It does add to clarity of the recipe. Whole-wheat pastry flour would be a more likely possibility looking at the photo than buckwheat flour; buckwheat flour is noticeably darker than other flours. I would use whole-grain pasta in this recipe. Looks like you used elbow macaroni, a shape not too common among whole-wheat macaroni brands. Meijer does have it.
Mary Bilyeu
Sat, Jul 9, 2011 : 3:28 a.m.
Hi, Ann -- You could easily use whole wheat pasta (macaroni or penne, if the macaroni is hard to find) and that would be just fine. I used white flour for the custard, as whole wheat would definitely give it a distinctive "wheaty" taste, and you don't want something overpowering. Ground lamb can be found at grocery stores, but it's a more reasonable price at some Middle Eastern markets which have meat counters; I believe that Jerusalem Market in the Courtyard Shops on Plymouth Road has lamb. Let me know if you need further information, as I'm happy to encourage you to make this!